Syrian refugee numbers surging, U.N. says
700,000 expected by end of the year
GENEVA — The number of Syrians fleeing to neighboring countries for safety and aid is likely to exceed 700,000 by the end of the year, according to the United Nations and humanitarian agencies that are struggling to keep pace with the surge in numbers in recent weeks.
More than half a million people have already fled the civil war in Syria and made their way to surrounding countries, the United Nations’ refugee agency estimates, but only 294,000 have registered as refugees or are waiting to do so. If the present trend continues, the number of registered refugees is likely to more than double, to 710,000 by the end of the year, Panos Moumtzis, the agency’s regional coordinator for Syrian refugees, said Thursday.
Three-quarters of the arrivals are women and children. Many arrive with only the clothes on their backs and are traumatized by their experiences, he added.
“This is not business as usual,” Mr. Moumtzis said.
He announced the estimates as he started an appeal for $488 million to finance international relief efforts, which he acknowledged have been overwhelmed by the speed and scale of the refugee flow. With the approach of winter, he said, “We are running out of time, and we need the funding urgently.”
The flow of Syrian refugees has repeatedly overrun U.N. estimates. In March, when there were 41,500 registered in neighboring Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey, the U.N. planned for the number to reach 98,000 by the end of the year and appealed for $84 million to meet their needs. Within three months the count had soared to 185,000 and the world body was asking for $193 million. Now with security deteriorating further in Syria, refugees are fleeing the country at a rate of 2,000 to 3,000 a day.
So far, though, the appeal for donations has raised only $141 million, less than one-third of what humanitarian agencies calculate they now need through to the end of the year, Mr. Moumtzis said.
The refugee agency, the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, estimates that there are more than 94,000 registered Syrian refugees in Jordan; around 84,000 in Turkey; 75,000 in Lebanon; and 30,500 in Iraq. It is planning for the number in Turkey to reach 280,000 and in Jordan, 250,000, and is pressing authorities in those countries to build or expand camps to receive them.
In Syria, cell phones rang, buzzed and chirped Thursday with an ominous text message from the military to members of the armed rebellion: “Game over.”
The rebels provided their own response to the regime’s warning to surrender and disarm by launching new attacks to drive government troops out of the largest city of Aleppo.
There’s no indication that the stalemated civil war has taken a decisive turn in any direction, however, and the bloodshed looks likely to drag on for many more months.
Syrians with subscriptions to the country’s two cell phone service providers said they began receiving the text messages signed by the Syrian Arab Army urging the rebels to surrender their weapons and warning that a countdown to evict any foreign fighters in the country has begun. Those with prepaid phones did not receive a message, according to residents in the capital of Damascus.