One million Syrians have fled their homeland since a revolt erupted two years ago, the UN said on 6 March, as fighting between rebels and loyalists raged across central and northern battlefields.
“With a million people in flight, millions more displaced internally, and thousands of people continuing to cross the border every day, Syria is spiralling toward full-scale disaster,” UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said in a statement issued in Geneva. “We are doing everything we can to help, but the international humanitarian response capacity is dangerously stretched. This tragedy has to be stopped.”
The UNHCR said the one million figure comprised both registered refugees and those awaiting registration, and that the count was based on fresh data received from its offices in the Middle East. Only a year ago, the UN agency had only registered 33,000 refugees. The exodus has intensified this year, the UNHCR said, with 400,000 Syrians fleeing their country since 1 January.