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Bilal Hussein / AP
Refugee Bushra, 19, who fled her home in Syria 17 days ago, holds her son Omar, 2, as she registers at the UNHCR center in the northern city of Tripoli, Lebanon, Wednesday. She was declared the millionth refugee to leave the country.
The number of refugees fleeing Syria has hit a million — nearly 5 percent of the population — the United Nations said Wednesday, as the U.K. announced it planned to send armored vehicles to the rebels fighting President Bashar Assad’s regime.
About half those fleeing Syria were children, most under the age of 11, the UNHCR refugee agency said in a statement.
They arrived in neighboring countries "traumatized, without possessions and having lost members of their families," it added.
"With a million people in flight, millions more displaced internally, and thousands of people continuing to cross the border every day, Syria is spiralling towards full-scale disaster," U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres said.
"We are doing everything we can to help, but the international humanitarian response capacity is dangerously stretched. This tragedy has to be stopped,” he added.
Syria had a population of 22.5 million in July 2012, according to the CIA's World Factbook.
Guterres said the impact of such large numbers of people arriving in Syria’s neighbors was severe.
The statement said that Lebanon's population had increased by "as much as 10 per cent," while Jordan's energy, water, health and education services "are being strained to the limit."
Last week, Secretary of State John Kerry signaled a change in U.S. policy, saying military rations and medical supplies would be sent directly to Syrian opposition fighters. He also said the U.S. would provide $60 million in new aid to help opposition groups provide basic goods and services.
Scud missiles used on civilians
Speaking in the U.K. parliament Wednesday, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said the conflict in Syria had reached "catastrophic proportions," with 70,000 people estimated to have died.
He said that the U.K. would provide equipment to protect civilians, including armored four-wheel drive vehicles "to help opposition figures move around more freely," and body armor.
"The regime has used 'scud' ballistic missiles against civilian areas. And the U.N. Commission of Inquiry for Syria has found evidence of grave human rights violations, war crimes and crimes against humanity; including massacres, torture, summary executions and a systematic policy of rape and sexual violence by the regime’s forces and its militia," he said.
He said diplomacy was "taking far too long and the prospect of an immediate breakthrough is slim."
A look back at the conflict that has overtaken the country.
"The international community cannot stand still in the face of this reality," Hague added.
Bushra, a 19-year-old mother of two, was declared the symbolic millionth refugee by the UNHCR after she was registered in Tripoli, Lebanon, Wednesday.
"Her flight to Lebanon was a desperate last measure. She moved with her children from the city of Homs, where she lived, and sought safety in several villages to avoid tanks and shelling and gangs of men whom she feared would rape or kill her and her little ones," the UNHCR statement said.
"But soon, she said, the shooting would begin, the shelling would rain down and it would be time to leave," it added. Her husband, a truck driver, is missing.
"We need help," Bushra said, according to the statement. "We hope this will end so we can go back to our house. We need to feel peace and stability. We cannot ask for anything more."
In Beirut, Panos Moumtzis, the UNHCR regional coordinator for Syrian refugees, told The Associated Press that 7,000 Syrians have been crossing into neighboring countries every day since the fighting escalated in December.
"When you stand at the border crossing, you see this human river flowing in, day and night," Moumtzis said after inspecting UNHCR's registration centers at border crossings in Lebanon.
He told the AP that the U.N. refugee agency badly needed money to help host countries cope and manage the refugee population.
He added the agency was only able to provide Syrians fleeing violence with a bare minimum: a tent, a blanket, a sleeping mat, 2,000 calories a day and 20 liters of water a day.
"We are getting desperate," Moumtzis said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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US to send rations, medical supplies to Syrian rebels but not weapons
Both sides in Syria commit war crimes including murder, torture, UN says
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In Syria, it is human made problems.
Sunni Syrian rebels battle/war against Assad is an example of intolerance of Sunni Islamic religious Nazis belonging Saudi brand of Sunnis.
In Syria, if Assad is overthrown by Sunni Islamic religious Nazis like al-Qaida, MB, the conditions of sane Muslims, females, minority sect/tribe Muslims, Christians will be unbearable just like Iraq.
"The number of refugees fleeing Syria has hit a million – nearly 5 percent of the population – the United Nations said Wednesday,"
UN and its agencies are highly partisan, corrupt and hype the problems when needed.
In Iraqi wars, at a least a million were killed. Did UN give much relief there?
In Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sudan, Darfur, millions of non-Muslims were killed. Where were UN and its agencies.
Either UN and its agencies act impartially or should be closed once for all!
"as the U.K. announced it planned to send armored vehicles to the rebels fighting President Bashar Assad’s regime."
British always jump the gun and they imagine that they are still ruling the world.
British and French did similar acts in Libya. Then on video on Mohammed, their embassies were attacked and these brave hid themselves.
Now French are busy in Mali. So hope they won't meddle in Syria.
WE HAVE NO ROLES IN SYRIA AND IRAN.
LET US FOR A CHANGE KEEP AWAY FROM SHIITES VS SUNNI BATTLES INSTEAD OF DECIDING WINNERS AS WITH IRAQI WARS.
Let God sort it out, All of it... There are 1000's of kinds of viruses and people are no different. The good ones make us stronger with immunity and the bad ones fizzle out and die off because they destroy themselves from within by killing each other off. Not a socialy acceptible or pretty way if we could actually see it take place under a micro-scope, but here in these cases we don't need one of those and our interference only prolongs the same fate of them only drawn out longer with no viable cure to their horrifying end.
A lesson in how to destroy a country. Does anybody win? Doubtful.
Unfortunately, Syria will probably end up with another Iran-like Islamic dictatorship that is equally intolerant as the Assad regime has been.
I think that we should leave the nations of the Middle East owning this. If we bail them out they will just keep letting us do that, if they have to bear the costs and difficulties themselves, the region is more likely to reform.
Who cares what happens to them!!! We have our own problems.
I guess next were going to see a bunch of syrians in convenient stores, gas stations and a Lil syria coming to a neighborhood near you. AKA kissing their ass.
Don't worry: more from basket Muslim nations like Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Somalia, Sudan, and others are on line!
We (the U.S.) have provided a lot of help to the rebels already. We have not sufficiently helped our own people through our own natural disasters, and it's time we did so. Until our own financial problems are solved and our budget is taken care of, it's time to stop aid to foreign countries. Has anyone announced whether 9% was cut on aid to Israel? I'd like a definitive answer on this? How about Japan, Germany, and all of the other countries receiving BILLIONS? I'd specifically like to know about Israel. Stop giving away our money until the people of New York and New Jersey have electricity and water! WTF are you people holding elected office thinking. You pretend we don't know what is going on, but we do. We know you are buying friends, but the purchase is temporary. You are taxing people who are living in third world conditions to pay people in third world countries who would sooner kill us than look us in the eye. This is never going to make sense. As soon as the money is gone, they are still going to hate us. We have our own river of humanity from Mexico. We have been taking care of it for years. Let the Middle east take care of this one. It's their turn. We didn't make this.
They really didn't have problems inthe area til after WWII when England, France and the US started leaving foot prints all over the place. I don't think that there is one country that we haven't been to bed with. They don't like it when you are their friend and than their enamy and in bed with another one of their enamies. The US and our allies are like a bunch of meddling Old Biddies. People don't likr them either.
6dogs...Your generalizations seem to come from ignorance. The middle east has been a hotbed of warfare and competing interests since recorded history began...in the middle east.
The tragedy is that the sick mind is far more likely to kill the healthy mind than the reverse. So the sickness seems to get a little worse with each generation.
The meddling of foreign powers in the middle east has far less influence on the politics and belief systems of the middle east than you give credit. Self proclaimed Caliphs, religion, Imams, madrassas, dictators and militias are the real cultural forces that emerged at the end of the Ottoman collapse.
If anything, the American, British and French influence was in geological sciences. They showed the locals how to find, and extract a mysterious but valuable mud from deep beneath the earth, and how to refine this mud to make useful, wealth generating products. But the locals squander the fabulous wealth in sectarian wars, petty dictatorships and in building bigoted religious schools that teach Islamic hegemony through tactics of terrorism.
Mccain and Graham want to sign up to go fight assad...oh wait a minute...they just want to grandstand
And what did the so-called greatest Secretary of State in history do to end all this? Other then fly over it a couple of times on the way to her next punch and cookies social event.
The real question here is, what did you do? Nothing.
Exactly. Nothing. Which is what we SHOULD be doing. Let them handle it their own way and us keep our nose out of it for a change.
I wounder if any of these 1,000,000 refugees have thanked us yet for f***ing up their lives.
Actually we didn't do anything, maybe we should have. Syria has never had a history of peace for over 5,000 years. there is always fighting of some kind for some reason has been going on there. You people think that this has been happening since Iraq or something.
how about we save the $60 million and use it to rebuild from travesties like super storm Sandy.
At todays rates millions is just Chunk Change. Think of Millions as the Old Hundreds.
America must be funneling money to the UK again.
I am so sick of Muslims killing Muslims I am so sick of Muslims killing harassing and brutalizing Non Muslims. I am really sick of our tax dollars paying for these crazy peoples to continue their war against humanity.
I don't have problems if Muslims kill each other.
Since the birth of Islamic cult, followers of Islam have been only doing: telling lies, fooling, stealing, raping, hating, kidnapping, blackmailing and doing genocides when strong.
In the long run, they have not made any positive contribution to a place, society, nation, world.
If they don't get non Muslims, they kill each other.
I have problem with doing all their regular nonsense with non-Muslims.
Many US, British and other politicians are playing games as directed by oil rich Sunni rulers, oil companies and their lobbyists.
Iraq, Syria and Iran are examples of dirty acts behind our backs.
When things are quite bad in the US, why anyone with a little sense impose sanctions on Iranian oil and hike oil prices high and high from $40 to current $90?
Can somebody remind me again why Assad is still breathing. He should have been annihilated long ago.
Before Assad is removed, Assad and his people should kill all Sunni Syrian rebels and their Sunni killers gangsters like al Qaida, MB, Salaffi and other label killers.
If we start assaisinating these despots there will be no end of it. I say stay out of this cesspool.
as much as I detest obozo's economic policies as least he has somewhat kept us out of this stinking mess We have no interests and should not get involved.