Syria: neighbours straining under refugee crisis

(Vatican Radio) The director of the United Nations humanitarian operations is warning that some of Syria’s neighbors are at their “breaking point” – caught between a sense of duty to keep their borders open to refugees and a responsibility to their own citizens. The  Director of the Operational Division at the UN Office of Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs ,John Ging, said Wednesday that Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan likely will have the refugees “for many years to come.”

Ging’s remarks came a day after Jordan and Lebanon told an international conference that the influx is straining their resources and threatening political stability. Ging urged more international funding to help ease the burden. He said a $3.7 billion appeal for the Syrian refugee crisis is just 52 percent funded.