Human Wrongs Watch
As heavy fighting continues in Syria, the UN refugee agency reported that the number of those fleeing to neighbouring countries rose to over 100,000 in August–the highest monthly total to date.
A Syrian family gets a lift at a crossing to Lebanon where they will register at UNHCR centres. Photo: UNHCR/S. Malkawi
According to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), 103,416 people sought asylum in countries neighbouring Syria in that month, bringing the total number of Syrian refugees registered or awaiting registration as of 2 September to 235,368 – mainly in Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan and Iraq.
Those figures include Iraqi refugees who had previously fled to Syria and are now returning to their homeland by the thousands, a UNHCR spokesperson, Melissa Fleming, told a news briefing in Geneva on 4 Sept. 2012.
Bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the North, Iraq to the East, Jordan to the South, and Israel to the Southwest, Syrian population is estimated in 22,530,000.
