US$2 bn more needed for Syrian refugees: UNHCR

(Geneva) – UN refugee agency said that more than US$2 billion more is needed by the end of this year to meet the urgent needs of Syrian refugees.
Donors have contributed more than US$4.1 billion to successive regional response plans since 2012. However more than US$2 billion more is needed by the end of this year to meet the urgent needs of refugees. Most urgently, more than 2.4 million people are expected to need support in the coming weeks to prepare for winter, the UNHCR said in a press statement.
The UN refugee agency reports that Syria’s intensifying refugee crisis will today surpass a record three million people, amid reports of increasingly horrifying conditions inside the country – cities where populations are surrounded, people are going hungry and civilians are being targeted or indiscriminately killed.
Almost half of all Syrians have now been forced to abandon their homes and flee for their lives. One in every eight Syrians has fled across the border, fully a million people more than a year ago. A further 6.5 million are displaced within Syria. Over half of those uprooted are children.
(Courtesy WAM)