Currently, there were 13.1 million people in need in Syria; 6.6 million internally displaced persons; and 2.98 million people in hard-to-reach and besieged areas, the UNHCR figures have revealed…reports Asian Lite News
The US State Department on Thursday dismissed as a distraction a Russian-backed conference in Damascus that called for the return of millions of Syrian refugees to the war-ravaged country. Arab News reports
Richard Albright, deputy assistant secretary at the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration, said it is no more than a show that bears no relation to the grim reality of the situation in Syria.
Joel Rayburn, the US special envoy for Syria, said the conference was “just a dog and pony show meant to distract from the fact that the Russians and the Assad regime have not done what the international community has been pressing them to do, which is to end the war and move to a political solution under UN Security Council resolution 2254.”
During the joint briefing, Albright also accused Russia and the Syrian regime of using refugees as “political pawns” to lend legitimacy to the regime.
The conference was hoped to achieve positive results that could “alleviate the suffering of the Syrian refugees abroad and open the way for them to return to Syria and live a normal life”, according to the office.
According to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), over 5.6 million people have fled Syria since 2011, seeking safety in Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan and beyond.
Currently, there were 13.1 million people in need in Syria; 6.6 million internally displaced persons; and 2.98 million people in hard-to-reach and besieged areas, the UNHCR figures have revealed.
Turkey hosts the largest number of registered Syrian refugees at 3.6 million.
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