Syria: More than 200,000 flee fighting

The number of Syrians fleeing to neighbouring countries because of the continuing violence has now topped 200,000.

It is far more than the UN had estimated and reflects an increase of 30,000 in the past week alone.

In Lebanon, safety concerns are hampering aid efforts.

“Security in Lebanon is a concern to us. We opened in Tripoli this week a registration centre. As of this morning, that registration centre is closed because of security reasons,” said Adrian Edwards, a UNHCR spokesman.

“Also in eastern Lebanon, in the Bekaa, we’ve had to reconfigure the way we work to avoid large gatherings of people there.”

Turkey continues to see the largest influx of refugees. More than 3,500 have arrived in the country from Syria over the past 24 hours.

“Each member of our family is somewhere different,” said one woman, now living in a camp.

“They’re taking good care of us here but we are not happy at all because we are separated.”

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