As European leaders debate how best to control and care for the flow of migrants and refugees, attention has turned to efforts in the Middle East to address the numbers of people fleeing their homes.
For most migrants and refugees, Greece is their first taste of life in Europe.
The International Organisation for Migration says more than 300,000 people have arrived in Greece by sea this year alone - many on the island of Lesbos.
The former tourist attraction has become a major processing port for refugees.
Conditions there are criticised for being squalid and overcrowded, but one man from Iraq, Daham Kasem, says he's endured much worse.
"Of course, we will endure this situation. We faced death in the sea, and we won't endure this? The smugglers played with us, taking us from one car to the other, there was fear, darkness, and there was nothing to eat or drink. After five hours in the sea I can endure anything."
Greece's caretaker prime minister, Vassiliki Thanou, has visited Lesbos and hit back at critics who say Greece isn't doing enough to protect European borders.
"To those who criticise Greece from the comfort of their EU countries, we would urge them to consider the mammoth responsibility of guarding European borders comprised of a 16,000 kilometre long coastline. We would also urge them to consider whether a Europe of principles and of the future can be constructed by building walls."
But the refugee surge has proved too much at the moment for some.
Germany has announced temporary border controls again along the EU's internal borders.
The initial focus will be on the border with Austria.
The aim is to limit the current inflows to Germany and to return to orderly procedures when people enter the country.
German Interior Minister, Thomas De Maiziere, says it is a necessary step.
"The introduction of border controls won't resolve all the problems, we are aware of this. It could restrict traffic and train transport, I am asking for understanding. But we need a bit more time and a certain level of order at our borders."
As the human tide continues to flow, international attention has turned to the primary source of the humanitarian crisis in the Middle East.
Arab League foreign ministers have met in Cairo.
They've defended their efforts to help with the amid criticism that Gulf nations had not taken in any refugees for four years.
Secretary General of the Arab League, Nabil al-Araby, says he wants to set the record straight.
"Arab nations hosting refugees did not spare any effort to aid those refugees. We all know that Jordan and Lebanon have more than three million Syrian refugees which surpasses the resources of these two countries. Also Iraq, Egypt, Tunisia, Sudan, Algeria and other Arab nations have borne a lot with limited resources. Some Arab nations and gulf states have presented much aid."
But some observers do not see a united Arab effort to address the crisis in Syria.
Weighing into the debate over military action against the self-proclaimed Islamic State is US Democratic presidential candidate, Senator Bernie Sanders.
"I think really the issue is not who is at fault, the issue is now what we do and what we do is bring the region together. Countries like Saudi Arabia, which has the third largest military budget in the world, Turkey, other countries are going to have to get their hands dirty and they have to get on the ground in taking on ISIS."
Former US Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford says the problem facing Syria is not just IS.
"The basic problem with the refugees is coming not from the Islamic State, it is coming from President Assad's brutality, dropping gas, dropping barrel explosives on civilian areas. It has depopulated entire Syrian cities. Half of Syria is now displaced. Half of the Syrian population is no longer living in their homes."
Mr Ford says a truely global effort is needed - including Middle East nations, Europe and its allies - if a solution to the humanitarian crisis will ever be found.
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