Over 2 million flee Syria in the wake of civil war

The civil war in Syria had forced more than 2 million people to flee the country with over 4 million others displaced within its borders, making it the nation with the largest number of people torn from their homes, UN officials said yesterday, AP reported.

Syria had become the great tragedy of this century - a disgraceful humanitarian calamity with suffering and displacement unparalleled in recent history, according to UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres.

He was speaking about the impact of the civil war, which started as a rebellion against the regime of president Bashar al-Assad in March 2011. He added that the only solace was the humanity shown by the neighbouring countries in welcoming and saving the lives of so many refugees.

According to Guterres, around 5,000 citizens a day on average were flowing out of Syria, many of them with little more than the clothes they are wearing. He added, what was particularly alarming, was that the number of refugees had surged by 1.8 million in just 12 months - up from almost 231,000 a year ago.

Over 97 per cent of Syria's refugees are hosted by countries in the immediate surrounding region, which was overwhelming their infrastructures, economies and societies and making them in need of urgent outside help, according to the statement of the UN refugee agency.

Meanwhile, UN weapons inspectors continue to examine evidence and samples taken from the Syrian capital of Damascus after a suspected chemical attack, the Independent newspaper reports. According to the US, the attack had left 1,429 dead, which included 426 children, the report said.

According to the UN agency's records for August 716,000 refugees had been displaced in Lebanon, 515,000 in Jordan, 460,000 in Turkey, 168,000 in Iraq and 110,000 in Egypt. The agency said over half of the displaced were children.

Guterres said in a statement released today, that around 1.8 million of the refugees had fled the area in the past 12 months alone.

According to Angelina Jolie, special envoy for the agency, ''some neighboring countries could be brought to the point of collapse'' if the situation kept deteriorating at its current pace.

She added the world risked being dangerously complacent about the Syrian humanitarian disaster, the UN said.

She warned the tide of human suffering unleashed by the conflict had catastrophic implications.

According to Guterres, the speed at which the number of refugees had surged was particularly alarming, with 1.8 million people displaced in only 12 months - up from almost 231,000 a year ago.