More than 276,000 Syrians
have fled their conflict-wracked country since March 2011, according to UN
refugee agency figures released on Tuesday.
The UNHCR also said
thousands of people forced to leave their homes in the economic capital Aleppo,
where the fighting has focused in recent days, had sought shelter in schools
and a university dormitory.
The figure, collated from
countries which provide aid to refugees, concerns Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq
and Algeria, the UNHCR said in a statement.
More than 70,000 Syrians
sought refuge in Turkey and more than 140,000 have crossed into Jordan. Lebanon
hosts more than 31,000 Syrian refugees, along with Iraq (11,000) and Algeria
(up to 25,000).
Describing the numbers
leaving Syria as a "steady surge," UNHCR spokesperson Melissa Fleming
said that, among the 276,000, the agency had registered and given aid to
129,240 Syrian refugees to date.
The number of Syrians who
have fled their country since the start of an uprising which the regime is
brutally repressing is thought to be much higher but many cases go unreported.
In and around Aleppo, the
International Committee of the Red Cross reported that 200,000 people
reportedly fled the area over the weekend amid "continuous raging
violence" between Syrian government forces and rebel fighters, Fleming
added.
Whereas there had been
"relatively free movement" for aid agencies in Aleppo until recently,
Fleming told AFP, the increased violence meant that the UNHCR had no option but
to deliver aid to Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) since it was not constrained
in the same way by UN protocol.
"We're just hearing
from our staff that the stand-off [between the government forces and the
rebels] is very tough on both sides. There are very few secure parts of the
city," she added.
Some 7,000 people have
taken refuge in Aleppo's university dormitories and more are camped out in 32
schools identified by the UNHCR, each housing 250-350 people. In total, the
figures indicate between 15,000 and 18,200 people in these centers alone.
Those who manage to leave
Syria are unable to support themselves in the same way as earlier refugees, the
International Organization for Migration said.
"We're seeing people
leaving [Syria] with far less and not in a financial position to subsist in
Jordan without the Jordanian government's help... these people need help in a
camp," he said.
Refugees told the agency
that a bus ticket to travel to the border from Aleppo cost about $100 per
person (82 euros), while a taxi cost about $300 (245 euros), said IOM
spokesperson Chris Lom.
To date, the joint UN
agencies' $180 million (147 million euros) Syria Response Plan is only 35
percent funded and the $193 million (157 million euros) Refugee appeal is only
33 percent funded.
Since fighting broke out in Syria in March 2011 more than 20,000 people
have been killed, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights watchdog
group.http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArticleDetails.aspx?ID=423952#
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