Syrian refugees

1.5 million Syrians are now refugees, UNHCR says

The United Nations refugee agency has announced that the number of Syrian civilians who have fled to other countries to escape violence in their homeland has now exceeded 1.5 million.

Press TV,

17 May, 2013

“The Syrian conflict continues to have a devastating impact on the lives of those who are forced to flee,” Dan McNorton, the spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), told reporters at a press conference in Geneva on Friday.

He stated that the UNHCR continues to respond to the emergency needs of internally displaced people in Syria and Syrian refugees in neighboring countries.

McNorton also said that the situation in Syria has deteriorated dramatically over the past four months.

“Refugees tell us the increased fighting and changing of control of towns and villages, in particular in conflict areas, results in more and more civilians deciding to leave. Over the past four months, we have seen a rapid deterioration when compared to the previous 20 months of this conflict,” McNorton added.

According to the UNHCR, all the Syrian refugees in Jordan and Lebanon have not been registered yet.

However, the UN agency has stepped up its capacity to register refugees in Lebanon.

“Every day over 4,200 people approach our offices for registration. In April, over 90,000 refugees were registered in our centers. This is more than a ten-fold increase when compared to the same month in 2012,” McNorton said.

The UNHCR has registered close to 1 million refugees since the beginning of the year -- about 250,000 people each month.

The Syria crisis began in March 2011, and many people, including large numbers of soldiers and security personnel, have been killed in the violence.

The Syrian government says that the chaos is being orchestrated from outside the country, and there are reports that a very large number of the militants are foreign nationals.

Several international human rights organizations have accused foreign-sponsored militants of committing war crimes in Syria.