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Jim Muir with refugee children in eastern Lebanon

After years reporting on the Middle East for the BBC, Jim Muir has seen more than his fair share of heartache.

From his base in Lebanon, he has covered conflict, political turmoil and now a refugee crisis on a scale thatÂ鶹APP™s difficult to comprehend.

But Jim can still be moved by what he sees. Especially when it comes to the plight of the Syrian refugee children who have flooded over the border to escape the civil war.

He said: Â鶹APPœI visited an informal settlement near the Syrian border where there are incredibly bright kids. It just breaks your heart to see them.

Â鶹APPœYou ask them what they miss most Â鶹APP“ and they say going to school.Â鶹APP�

Jim is a supporter of  double-shift school plan to get the 435,000 Syrian refugee children in Lebanon back into school and learning, .

He said: Â鶹APPœIt is a terrific idea. The thirst these children have for education is what strikes me.Â鶹APP�

The reporter realises that, with more than one million Syrian refugees now in Lebanon, these youngsters face becoming a lost generation unless something is done.

He said: Â鶹APPœIn Beirut I met a family from Homs who have kids ranging from seven to 18. They have been on the road for two years and the children have had no education at all.Â鶹APP�

Jim told how many children have no identity papers or birth certificates after their families fled from Syria.

He said: Â鶹APPœA lot of the refugee children have been born here too. ItÂ鶹APP™s problematic getting birth certificates for them so they end up stateless.

Â鶹APPœI met a family of five whose parents were killed in a bombing. They have no papers Â鶹APP“ so how can they go back to Syria?

Â鶹APPœThis is an area the NGOs are focusing on. There could be as many as 100,000 in this category.Â鶹APP�

Syrian refugees outside their temporary home in Bekaa Valley

Jim has who fled the fighting. He said many people outside the region wrongly assume the Syrian refugees in Lebanon are in official camps.

He explained: Â鶹APPœLebanon does not allow the construction of formal camps. There are literally hundreds of municipalities hosting refugee populations so it is much more difficult to administer.

Â鶹APPœYou see informal settlements ranging from shanty shacks in fields to groups and families taking over unfinished buildings. Some in the Bekaa Valley in the north of the country are very primitive Â鶹APP“ a wooden frame with plastic sheeting or advertising hoardings.Â鶹APP�

Jim said the biggest problem he sees among the refugee children is boredom.

He said: Â鶹APPœA lot of the time they are hanging around settlements with no school to go to. Boredom will just become a bigger problem as they get older and want to express themselves and donÂ鶹APP™t have school or work to go to.Â鶹APP�

Some children have found jobs or are selling goods. In Beirut, as Jim reported recently, there is an army of refugee children selling flowers at night.

But Jim is hopeful that Â鶹APP“ whatever happens to their education Â鶹APP“ the Syrian refugee children will pull through.

He said: Â鶹APPœKids have a capacity to enjoy themselves Â鶹APP“ and be naughty Â鶹APP“ even in the worst circumstances.

Â鶹APPœBut most of all they just want to go to school.Â鶹APP�

You can watch Jim MuirÂ鶹APP™s reports on the Middle East on the BBC, read his stories in the or follow him on Twitter .