Syrian refugee numbers pass 4-million mark says UN

By Fatih Erel

GENEVA

The number of refugees fleeing the conflict in Syria to neighboring countries has passed four million, the UN said on Thursday.

Turkey is sheltering almost half this total.

"New arrivals in Turkey and updated data from the Turkish authorities on refugees already in that country have taken the total number of Syrian refugees in neighboring countries to more than 4,013,000 people," the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said in a statement.

At least an additional 7.6 million people are displaced inside Syria.

"Tragically, and with no end in sight to Syria’s war, now in its fifth year, the crisis is intensifying and the number of refugees is rising. The four-million milestone comes barely 10 months since the total of three million was reached," UNHCR said.

The UN expects this figure will reach around 4.27 million by the end of the year.

Almost half of Syrian refugees are in Turkey

"Refugee outflows in June 2015 saw more than 24,000 people arriving in Turkey from Tel Abyad and other parts of northern Syria. Turkey, already the world’s biggest refugee hosting country, is now home to around 45 percent of all Syrian refugees in the region," the UNHCR said.

"The figure of four million comprises 1,805,255 Syrian refugees in Turkey, 249,726 in Iraq, 629,128 in Jordan, 132,375 in Egypt, 1,172,753 in Lebanon, and 24,055 elsewhere in North Africa.

“Not included, are more than 270,000 asylum applications by Syrians in Europe, and thousands of others resettled from the region elsewhere," UNHCR said.

New cuts in food aid

The UNHCR noted that funding of the Syria refugee situation has become an equally pressing problem.

For this year as a whole, $5.5 billion is needed in international humanitarian and development aid, the UNHCR estimated.

"However, as of late June, less than a quarter of this sum (24 percent) had been received. This means refugees face tough new cuts in food aid, and struggle to afford lifesaving health services or send their children to school," the refugee agency warned.