Since the outbreak of the Syrian uprising in February 2011, Syrians have been crossing the borders to their neighbouring countries in order to seek refuge with no resources to support their families. But with the refugee crisis in its third year resources of international humanitarian organisations are diminishing. The host communities are overstrained, while refugees more than ever rely on humanitarian assistance programmes. This study explores the role of the Islamic charities offering assistance to Syrian refugees in Jordan and Lebanon. It gives a picture of structures and strategies of intervention of Islamic charities, of collaboration between Islamic charities and the international humanitarian community and finally of how the assistance of Islamic charities is perceived by the refugees themselves.