A line of Syrian refugee women, some carrying children, cross into Jordan from southern Syria. The outflow this year has been staggering. © UNHCR/N.Daoud 
 
 GENEVA, March 6 (UNHCR) - The UN refugee agency, citing data received from UNHCR's offices in the Syria region, on Wednesday announced that the number of Syrians either registered as refugees or being assisted as such has reached the 1 million mark. 
 
 "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," said UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres. "We are doing everything we can to help, but the international humanitarian response capacity is dangerously stretched. This tragedy has to be stopped." 
 
 The number of Syrian refugees fleeing their country has increased dramatically since the beginning of the year. More than 400,000 people have become refugees since January 1, 2013. They arrive traumatized, without possessions and having lost members of their families. Around half of the refugees are children, the majority under the age of eleven. Most have fled to Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Iraq and Egypt. Increasingly, Syrians are also fleeing to North Africa and Europe. 
 
 "This number translates into 1 million people who are dependent on the generosity of host countries, the response of humanitarian agencies and the financial support of governments and individuals," said Guterres. 
 
 The High Commissioner noted that the impact of this large number of refugees arriving in neighbouring countries is severe. Lebanon's population has increased by as much as 10 per cent. Jordan's energy, water, health and education services are being strained to the limit. Turkey has spent over US$600 million setting up 17 refugee camps, with more under construction. Iraq, juggling its own crisis with more than 1 million Iraqis internally displaced, has received more than 100,000 Syrian refugees in the past year. 
 
 "These countries should not only be recognized for their unstinting commitment to keeping their borders open for Syrian refugees, they should be massively supported as well," said Guterres. 
 
 Bushra, the 1 millionth Syrian refugee, in Tripoli, Lebanon, with her children. © UNHCR/E.Byun 
 
 UNHCR named Bushra, a 19-year-old mother of two, as the symbolic 1 millionth refugee. She was registered in the coastal city of Tripoli in northern Lebanon on Wednesday. She has been living in a dilapidated two-room building in a Tripoli slum since crossing the border just over two weeks ago. 
 
 When UNHCR visited her earlier this week, she was holding her son Sleiman in the corner where they sleep at night. Her daughter Hanin, aged three, huddled close to her mother in the room they share with 12 other refugees. 
 
 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. But soon, she said, the shooting would begin, the shelling would rain down and it would be time to leave. 
 
 Before the conflict, she lived with her husband of five years and his family. He was a truck driver and was able to provide for the family. Now he is missing. "We need help," Bushra said. "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 December, the UN's Regional Response Plan for Syrian Refugees estimated that 1.1 million Syrian refugees would arrive in neighbouring countries by the end of June 2013. UNHCR is in the process of adjusting this plan, in light of the new figures. Currently, the plan is only about 25 per cent funded. 
 
 Without a political solution to the conflict, Guterres said, "at a minimum, humanitarian actors should receive the funds needed to save lives and ease suffering." 
 
 The Syria crisis will be two years old next week. High Commissioner Guterres will be travelling to the region later this week to visit UNHCR operations in Turkey, Jordan, and Lebanon. 
 
 5134a41f9 ||||| Thousands of Syrians flood across the border into Iraq recently in search of shelter. © UNHCR/G.Gubaeva 
 
 GENEVA, September 3 (UNHCR) - The number of Syrians forced to seek shelter abroad since civil war began in March 2011 passed the 2 million mark on Tuesday with no sign of the outflow ending soon. 
 
 "The war is now well into its third year and Syria is haemorrhaging women, children and men who cross borders often with little more than the clothes on their backs," the UN refugee agency said in a statement released to mark the milestone. 
 
 "This trend is nothing less than alarming, representing a jump of almost 1.8 million people in 12 months," UNHCR said. One year ago today, the number of Syrians registered as refugees or awaiting registration stood at about 230,670 people. 
 
 UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres said Syria had become "a disgraceful humanitarian calamity with suffering and displacement unparalleled in recent history." He added that "the only solace is the humanity shown by the neighbouring countries in welcoming and saving the lives of so many refugees." 
 
 More than 97 per cent of Syria's refugees are hosted by countries in the immediate surrounding region, placing an overwhelming burden on their infrastructures, economies and societies. They urgently need massive international support to help deal with the crisis. 
 
 UNHCR Special Envoy Angelina Jolie, meanwhile, expressed her dismay at the level of death, damage and danger that has forced so many Syrians to run for their lives. 
 
 "The world risks being dangerously complacent about the Syrian humanitarian disaster. The tide of human suffering unleashed by the conflict has catastrophic implications. If the situation continues to deteriorate at this rate, the number of refugees will only grow, and some neighbouring countries could be brought to the point of collapse," she said. 
 
 Jolie added that the world was "tragically disunited" on how to end the Syria conflict. "But there should be no disagreement over the need to alleviate human suffering, and no doubt of the world's responsibility to do more. We have to support the millions of innocent people ripped from their homes, and increase the ability of neighbouring countries to cope with the influx." 
 
 ... a disgraceful humanitarian calamity with suffering and displacement unparalleled in recent history. High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres 
 
 With an average of almost 5,000 Syrians fleeing into neighbouring countries every day, the need to significantly increase humanitarian aid and development support to host communities has reached a critical stage. 
 
 In view of the pressure the refugee exodus is placing on surrounding countries, including the worsening economic impact, ministers from Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey will meet with UNHCR in Geneva on Wednesday in a bid to accelerate international support. 
 
 The 2 million figure represents Syrians who have registered as refugees or who are pending registration. As of the end August this comprised 110,000 in Egypt, 168,000 in Iraq, 515,000 in Jordan, 716,000 in Lebanon and 460,000 in Turkey. 
 
 Some 52 per cent of this population are children aged 17 years or below. UNHCR announced only days ago that the number of Syrian child refugees had exceeded 1 million. 
 
 A further 4.25 million people are displaced inside Syria, according to data from the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Taken together, these numbers - amounting to more than 6 million people - mean that more Syrians are now forcibly displaced than people from any other country. 
 
 UNHCR is active in Syria and is leading the humanitarian response to the refugee crisis in each of the surrounding countries. Humanitarian agencies are worryingly under-supported, with receipt of only 47 per cent of funds required to meet basic refugee needs.
– A million people have now fled Syria to avoid the war raging there—and half of them are children, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees reported today. "Syria is spiraling towards full-scale disaster," commissioner António Guterres said. "We are doing everything we can to help, but the international humanitarian response capacity is dangerously stretched." The defections have accelerated dramatically this year, with more than 400,000 fleeing since January. The UN hadn't expected to pass the 1 million mark for three more months, the BBC reports. The influx has put a real strain on neighboring countries; Lebanon, for instance, has seen its population swell as much as 10%, while Turkey has spent $600 million on refugee camps. Jordan and Iraq have also been sharing the load. Jordan's king yesterday urged other countries to help carry "the tremendous burden," and Guterres echoed that call. "These countries should not only be recognized for their unstinting commitment to keeping their borders open for Syrian refugees," he said, "they should be massively supported."