The number of Syrian refugees has now passed 2.5 million.
2.5 million lives changed forever.
Half are children…
According to the United Nations Refugee Agency, more than 20,000 Syrian refugees have arrived in Turkey since the start of the year in the biggest influx since early 2013. In recent days, more than 500 people have been arriving each day at the official crossing points, with some days the influx reaching as many as 1,000 to 2,000 Syrians.
Read more at the UNHCR site.
“The United Nations says [Syria] is fast becoming the worst and most expensive humanitarian catastrophe in modern history.”
Syria Policy Unraveling, from Politico.
“With hopes for comprehensive peace talks in the immediate future nearly quashed, groups monitoring the ongoing crisis in Syria say more attention needs to be paid to the intractable dilemma of delivering humanitarian aid to the country.
More than nine million people currently require immediate assistance in Syria, the United Nations said recently, many of them suffering from a lack of food, water, and basic medical supplies as winter edges closer.
But aid workers cannot reach them, monitors say, largely because the Syrian government has restricted access…”
Read the full article in The Huffington Post.
A 4 November 2013 article by Reuters says:
The United Nations estimates that around 9.3 million people in Syria or about 40 percent of the population need humanitarian assistance due to the country’s 2-1/2-year civil war, the U.N. humanitarian office said on Monday.