Daily Star - U.N. and partners now assisting over 22,000 Syrian refugees in Lebanon, 21 April 2012

BEIRUT: The U.N. and partners are now assisting over 22,000 Syrian refugees in Lebanon, an increase of 2,000 since last week, according to the latest weekly report from the agency.

Less than half of those, 9,940, are actually registered with the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees and Lebanon’s Higher Relief Committee, and all in the north of the country, representing an increase of 274 since last week. Activists say the total number of displaced Syrians in Lebanon is much higher than 22,000.

Separately Friday, the U.N. refugee agency appealed for $84 million to help an estimated 60,000 refugees who have fled to Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan and Iraq.

In Lebanon, the refugee population is concentrated in the north, with around 9,000 displaced people in the region, according to Friday’s report. A further 3,000 in the city of Tripoliitself are awaiting registration, it adds.

The agency’s latest assessments show there to be around 8,500 displaced people in the eastern Bekaa region, an increase of around 1,000 since last week. This rise is attributed to further outreach and verification exercises in the area, the report states.

Registration in the Bekaa, which is set to begin at the beginning of May, will be conducted through local municipalities, as the HRC is not present in the Bekaa.

Roughly 700 Syrians have been registered with the UNHCR in the Beirut area, the report adds.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Local-News/2012/Apr-21/170920-un-and-partners-now-assisting-over-22000-syrian-refugees-in-lebanon.ashx#axzz1sUeP5gAA