The Irish Navy has revealed it rescued more than 8,500 people from the Mediterranean Sea this year.
Three Irish ships were sent to help rescue efforts in the region in 2015 - with the last, the L.E. Samual Beckett, arriving home just before Christmas.
In total a million people have attempted to cross the Mediterranean into Europe in the last 12 months - with many fleeing war in Syria.
UN peace talks will begin in Geneva next month.
But Karem Shaheen, the Middle East reporter for the Guardian newspaper, says it's an extremely complex conflict:
