December 17, 2013 - The exodus of millions of people from Syria in one of the largest
refugee flights in decades is pushing neighboring countries to a breaking point, and
thousands of lives are threatened with the onset of a bitter winter. The crisis
prompted a record appeal by the United Nations on Monday for $6.5 billion to help
displaced Syrians and their host countries, with hundreds of thousands more refugees
expected as the civil war rages. With less than a month to go before internationally
brokered peace talks by Syria's warring sides are to begin, U.N. Secretary General,
Ban ki-Moon demanded a cease-fire for the discussions to have any chance in succeeding.
But if anything, the violence in Syria, which activists say has already claimed more
than 120,000 lives, appears to be spiraling. The conflict in Syria, now in its third
year, has defied all attempts at peace. In addition to the staggering death toll,
millions of people have been displaced from their homes, most now scattered in refugee
camps and informal settlements across Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey. A biting cold spell
marking the beginning of winter has added another layer of misery to their grim existence.
The situation in Syria has ``deteriorated beyond all imagination,'' Ban said.
In Geneva, the U.N. appealed to donors for $6.5 billion to help support the nearly
9 million uprooted Syrians, the largest-ever appeal for a single crisis. Antonio
Guterres, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, said the Syrian civil war has helped
push the number of people worldwide who fled conflict in their homelands to more than
2 million this year alone _ the highest since 1994, when people fled genocide in Rwanda
and bloodshed in the former Yugoslavia. He described the nearly three-year conflict
in Syria as a ``mega-crisis'' with regional dimensions, one that is ``probably the
most dangerous for global peace and security since World War II.'' Experts say what
makes the Syrian conflict particularly challenging is the consistent, steady flow
of refugees, overwhelming aid efforts and making it impossible to predict long-term
needs. Peter Kessler, UNHCR senior regional spokesman, said at least 120,000 Syrians
seek shelter in Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and Iraq every month. Lebanon has been particularly
hard hit, because the government kept the borders open and no formal refugee camps
have been established. Charity groups and non-governmental organizations this
past week scrambled to cope with the fallout from a snowstorm, handing out blankets,
mattresses, kerosene heaters, winter clothes, plastic tarps and fuel coupons. The
storm hit Lebanon, the Palestinian territories, Turkey, Israel and even the deserts
of Egypt with rare snow and rain. Some 1.4 million Syrians now live in Lebanon,
which had a population of 4.5 million before the refugee crisis. Guterres said Lebanon
is now close to reaching the population it was expected to have by the year 2050.
In Jordan, a plastic-tent Syrian refugee encampment has become the country's fourth
largest city. Some 120,000 Syrians live in the Zaatari camp, while the rest live in
existing Jordanian communities. Many residents complain that the newcomers have exhausted
their meager resources, like water, health care and education. The U.N. food agency
said it is expanding its emergency operation to provide food. Recent assessments by
the World Food Program show that almost half the population inside Syria is experiencing
food shortages and that more than 6 million people urgently need food to survive because
of soaring prices. In addition to the 2.3 million Syrians who have fled the country
over the course of the war, there are 6.5 internally displaced people. (Source:
AP)