f June, Turkey reported an influx of about 400 additional Syrian refugees, bringing the total number of registered refugees in Turkey to 24,500.
The Office of Visas and Registration of Armenia reported that 3,248 Syrian citizens, most of them ethnic Armenians, applied for Armenian citizenship by July 2012. In addition, six Syrian families (14 people) requested a residency permit. Overall, up to 300 Syrians expressed their intention of staying in Armenia permanently.
According to Lebanese sources, nearly 19,000 Syrians had fled the Syrian capital into Lebanon between 18 and 20 July, as violence inside the city continued to escalate. The United Nations refugee agency registered roughly 35,000 Syrian refugees in Jordan, but there were reported to be far more Syrian refugees along its borders, upward of 140,000 people. The total number of registered refugees throughout the region was reported by the UNHCR at 112,000 on 17 July 2012.
In the Iraqi Kurdish region more than 6,500 refugees were registered and over 1,400 were awaiting registration. The total number of registered Syrians in Lebanon had reached around 28,100 refugees by 17 July, with a further 2,000 Syrians receiving assistance while waiting for registration. In Turkey, it was reported that the number of registered refugees reached more than 43,000 by 21 July, although nearly 1,000 returned to Syria because of poor conditions at the provisional refugee camps.
On 9 August, a boat of refugees, including 124 first Syrian refugees arrived in Italy. By mid August, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported that the number of registered Syrian refugees had reached over 200,000, exceeding the UNHCR estimate of 185,000 for the entire year.
The number of Syrian refugees in Iraqi Kurdistan swelled to 35,000 by late October 2012.
According to UNHCR data, the total number of Syrian refugees reached more than 408,000 registered in December 2012, mostly residing in Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq (including Iraqi Kurdistan). The number of Syrian refugees in Turkey reached 135,519 registered; 8,852 in Iraq proper and additional 54,000 in Iraqi Kurdistan; 109,081 registered in Lebanon, with 41,712 people awaiting registration; 100,368 registered in Jordan, with 41,524 Syrians awaiting registration. There are also 12,915 people registered in Egypt as of 30 December 2012, and about at least 150,000 residing in the country.
There were increased concerns over fears of the exploitation of women refugees in particular.
Some Orthodox Christian refugees from Syria began to arrive in the United States of America, according to the website of the Antiochian Archdiocese.
In August, Bulgaria started to experience enormous influx of illegal Syrian refugees. Bulgaria asked the European Union and Red Cross for aid in handling an increase in Syrian refugees. Bulgaria, which shares a border with Turkey, may have to provide shelter for as many as 10,000 Syrians by year end. Bulgarian refugee centers are full and the government is looking for additional locations to accommodate a rise in people illegally crossing the border with Turkey.
In August, the United Nations confirmed that groups of thousands of Syrian refugees left their country into Iraqi Kurdistan.
In September, Italy also experienced increases in Syrian refugees. The majority Syrian refugees have come from Egypt, although some started their journeys from Turkey. UNHCR estimates that more than 4,600 Syrians have arrived in Italy by sea since the beginning of 2013. About two-thirds of these arrivals were in August.
In September, Swedish migration authorities ruled that all Syrian asylum seekers will be granted permanent residency in light of the worsening conflict in Syria. Sweden is the first EU-country to make this offer. The decision means that the roughly 8,000 Syrians who have temporary residency in Sweden will now be able to stay in the country permanently. They will also have the right to bring their families to Sweden. While Malek Laesker, vice-chair of the Syrian Arabian Cultural Association of Sweden, welco