Syrian refugees reach 3 million, UN says
Written by : Mohamed Abdel Fattah
29 August 2014
The civil war in Syria has forced a record 3 million people out of the country as more than a million people fled in the past year, the U.N. refugee agency said Friday.
In a statement Friday, the U.N. refugee agency said one million of those refugees fled in the past year alone from the "increasingly horrifying conditions" in Syria.
The statement said the figure does not include hundreds of thousands who have not registered as refugees. It also said a further 6.5 million are displaced within Syria.
The majority of refugees have fled to countries neighbouring Syria, with most now seeking shelter in Lebanon.
Opposition groups in Syria have been fighting forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad since his government violently suppressed protests against his rule in March 2011.
The situation has been worsened in recent months by the formation and advance of the Islamic State group, which now controls large swathes of Syria and Iraq.
More than 190,000 have been killed in Syria's three-year civil war.
The tragic milestone means that about one of every eight Syrians is now fleeing across the border, and 6.5 million others have been displaced with the country’s borders, the Geneva-based agency, which also noted that over half of all those uprooted are children.
“The Syria crisis has become the biggest humanitarian emergency of our era, yet the world is failing to meet the needs of refugees and the countries hosting them,” the Associated Press quoted the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres as saying.
Syrians now constitute the world's largest refugee population under the care of the UNHCR, second only in number to refugees in the decades-old Palestinian crisis that falls under the mandate of a separate U.N. agency UNRWA, it said.
Meanwhile, United States began to conduct exploration and surveillance planes over Syria after the approval of President Barack Obama on it, according to the Associated Press, in a move that could pave the way to the air strikes against ISIS.
Defense officials said Monday evening that the Pentagon was sending in manned and unmanned reconnaissance flights over Syria, using a combination of aircraft, including drones and possibly U2 spy planes. Mr. Obama approved the flights over the weekend, a senior administration official said.
U.S. officials said the United States is preparing military options in order to put pressure on "Islamic state" in Syrian territory, but stressed that they have not yet made any decision to expand U.S military action except limited air strikes taking place in Iraq.
President Barack Obama sought for limited military campaign in Iraq, focusing on "the protection of U.S. diplomats and civilians under immediate threat." But officials have not ruled out a military escalation on the Islamic State, which has increased from overt threats to the United States.
Sources
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/29/us-syria-crisis-refugees-idUSKBN0GT0AX20140829
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-28977117
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/2014/08/29/U-N-says-Syria-refugees-top-3-million-mark.html
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29 August 2014
The civil war in Syria has forced a record 3 million people out of the country as more than a million people fled in the past year, the U.N. refugee agency said Friday.
In a statement Friday, the U.N. refugee agency said one million of those refugees fled in the past year alone from the "increasingly horrifying conditions" in Syria.
The statement said the figure does not include hundreds of thousands who have not registered as refugees. It also said a further 6.5 million are displaced within Syria.
The majority of refugees have fled to countries neighbouring Syria, with most now seeking shelter in Lebanon.
Opposition groups in Syria have been fighting forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad since his government violently suppressed protests against his rule in March 2011.
The situation has been worsened in recent months by the formation and advance of the Islamic State group, which now controls large swathes of Syria and Iraq.
More than 190,000 have been killed in Syria's three-year civil war.
The tragic milestone means that about one of every eight Syrians is now fleeing across the border, and 6.5 million others have been displaced with the country’s borders, the Geneva-based agency, which also noted that over half of all those uprooted are children.
“The Syria crisis has become the biggest humanitarian emergency of our era, yet the world is failing to meet the needs of refugees and the countries hosting them,” the Associated Press quoted the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres as saying.
Syrians now constitute the world's largest refugee population under the care of the UNHCR, second only in number to refugees in the decades-old Palestinian crisis that falls under the mandate of a separate U.N. agency UNRWA, it said.
Meanwhile, United States began to conduct exploration and surveillance planes over Syria after the approval of President Barack Obama on it, according to the Associated Press, in a move that could pave the way to the air strikes against ISIS.
Defense officials said Monday evening that the Pentagon was sending in manned and unmanned reconnaissance flights over Syria, using a combination of aircraft, including drones and possibly U2 spy planes. Mr. Obama approved the flights over the weekend, a senior administration official said.
U.S. officials said the United States is preparing military options in order to put pressure on "Islamic state" in Syrian territory, but stressed that they have not yet made any decision to expand U.S military action except limited air strikes taking place in Iraq.
President Barack Obama sought for limited military campaign in Iraq, focusing on "the protection of U.S. diplomats and civilians under immediate threat." But officials have not ruled out a military escalation on the Islamic State, which has increased from overt threats to the United States.
Sources
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/29/us-syria-crisis-refugees-idUSKBN0GT0AX20140829
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-28977117
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/2014/08/29/U-N-says-Syria-refugees-top-3-million-mark.html
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