Germany is spending €500 million to build new towns for Syrian refugees in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and other nations bordering on the conflict. The European country's largesse comes with a sobering subtext: This war won't be ending any time soon.

Officially, Germany wants a quick end to the Syrian conflict and a return of the more than 3 million refugees to their war-torn homeland.

But at a donor's conference Wednesday in Berlin, Europe's largest economy sent a more "real politik" assessment of its expectations for an end to the conflict.

The German government said it would spend €500 million ($639 million) to build cities and basic infrastructure in Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon over the next three years to house the refugees. Around half of the money will come from the Foreign Ministry and half from the Federal Ministry for Economic Co-operation and Development (BMZ).

The inherent message: Tent cities aren't enough. Temporary housing must give way to more permanent solutions for the refugees.

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