The number of Syrians who have fled their war-ravaged country and are seeking assistance has now topped the one million mark, the United Nations’ refugee agency said on Wednesday.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, said in a statement released in Geneva that the figure is based on reports from his agency’s field offices in neighboring countries that have provided refuge for Syrians escaping the civil war.
With a million people in flight, millions more displaced internally, and thousands of people continue to cross the border every day.
Syria’s uprising began in March 2011 with protests against President Bashar Assad’s authoritarian rule. When the government cracked down on demonstrators, the opposition took up arms and the conflict turned into a full-blown civil war. The United Nations estimates that more than 70,000 people have been killed so far since 2011.
The relentless violence has devastated many a cities and has forced hundreds of thousands of Syrians to seek refuge abroad.
The number of Strian refugees has swelled this year, with most Syrians fleeing to Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Iraq and Egypt. More than 400,000 people have become refugees since Jan 1, and often arrive in neighboring countries traumatized, without possessions and having lost members of their families.