94 DISSENT · SUMMER 2016 The Syrian civil war is now well into its sixth year, and despite recent diplo- matic initiatives, there seems to be no end in sight to the conflict. For the country’s 6 million refugees, return to Syria remains a distant hope. In the face of such stark realities, Syrian refugees living in the Middle East have shown striking resilience and fortitude. Despite tremendous odds they are rebuilding their communities, fighting for better living conditions, and mak- ing their voices heard. Perhaps most striking is that much of this mobilization has occurred in defiance of the aid providers and humanitarian organizations whose man- date is to protect and care for refugee populations. While these organiza- tions are undoubtedly motivated by a desire to help, their approach often fails to accommodate refugees’ tenacious efforts to reconstruct and shape their own lives. Such shortcomings—which in many ways are built into the nature of refugee response systems—have at times compelled refugees to turn to overt and even contentious modes of resistance. What do these refugee-led protests tell us about our existing system of humanitarian response? Mobilizing at the Margins in Turkey and Lebanon Though much attention over the last year has focused on Syrians fleeing to Europe, the majority of refugees have remained closer to home, settling in cities and camps in Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan. According to the UN’s ref- ugee agency, UNHCR, Turkey has taken in almost 3 million refugees, whose welfare is managed by a Turkish government agency under the prime min- ister’s office. In Lebanon, a country of 4 million people with a weak and divided government, there are over 1 million Syrian refugees. Jordan hosts 600,000 registered Syrian refugees, 80,000 of whom have been housed in the region’s largest camp for Syrian refugees—the UNHCR-run Za’atari refu- gee camp. Refugees in each of these sites have faced diverse challenges to The Politics of Refugee Relief Killian Clarke