Angelina Jolie: The world has failed Syrian refugees

BEIRUT—  Angelina Jolie, the movie star and special envoy for the U.N.’s refugee agency, says the international community must address the root causes of the global refugee crisis.

Under the pouring rain at a press conference Tuesday in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, Jolie said: “We cannot manage the world through aid relief in the place of diplomacy and political solutions.”

Hundreds of thousands of Syrians have sought refuge in the Bekaa. Lebanon hosts well over a million Syrian refugees, who now account for nearly a fifth of its population.

Jolie said she had hoped to be in Syria helping victims return to their homes on the fifth anniversary of the uprising against President Bashar Assad. She says it’s “tragic and shameful that we seem to be so far from that point.”

The toll of Syria's 5-year war

Meanwhile, the International Rescue Committee on Tuesday released a video of George and Amal Clooney meeting in Berlin last month with three Syrian refugee families living there, who described the terror that impelled them to flee their war-ravaged homeland.

The Clooneys and the IRC are trying to promote more widespread acceptance of refugees, using the hashtag #RefugeesWelcome.

During their meeting with the Syrian refugees in Berlin, the glamorous pair shared their own families' histories of fleeing their homelands: George's ancestors left Ireland a century ago for America, where they were initially subjected to contempt and discrimination but eventually flourished. And Amal's family left war-torn Lebanon for Britain even more recently.

“It was an honor to meet three Syrian families whose lives have been shattered by war, and inspiring to learn that the people of Germany are helping them put their lives back together,” said George Clooney in a statement issued by the IRC.