The exodus has pushed the number of Syrian refugees to more than a quarter of a million, Adrian Edwards, a spokesman for the UN refugee agency said. Of the total, Jordan now has more than 85,000 refugees and Turkey more than 78,000. Around 2,000 Syrians are crossing daily into Jordan.
"On Wednesday, actress Angelina Jolie met with Syrian refugees in Lebanon a day after visiting a refugee camp in Jordan."
Oh, all's well now.
Oh, all's well now.
They said others were to blame. Nice deception, NYT.
"Abdelbaset Sieda, who heads the Syrian National Council, told reporters in Istanbul that the international community must establish safe havens in Syria and enforce no-fly zones to help the rebels counter the regime’s air strikes. This would also cut down on the number of Syrians seeking refuge abroad and ‘‘resolve the humanitarian crisis, especially with winter approaching,’’ Sieda said.
International aid officials estimate the number of refugees could double by the end of the year, to more than 700,000."
"More than a million people in need of aid. Some areas have fallen under the sway of shadowy jihadist forces that eye Western aid organizations as espionage networks."
Both are intelligence agency fronts, but more importantly, a cold winter at the equator in this age of global warming?
**************
UN seeks additional $1.5 billion for Syria crisis
Syrian refugees flee by thousands, UN says
--more--""
And now on to those most famous (or infamous, actually) refugees on planet Earth:
The headline itself is a distorted lie, and you get tired of it.
BEIRUT — Rebel fighters, meanwhile, have claimed new gains in the war....
See: Russians Rushing From Syria
Syrian Rebels Strike Again
Who is Winning the War in Syria?
I thought I'd run 'em by ya'. See why I don't want to read and report any more?
UN seeks additional $1.5 billion for Syria crisis
Syrian refugees flee by thousands, UN says
Comes with every war of western aggression.
"UN says 1 million Syrians going hungry in combat zones; Fighting erupts at refugee camp in north Jordan" by Rick Gladstone and Nick Cumming-Bruce | New York Times, January 09, 2013
"UN says 1 million Syrians going hungry in combat zones; Fighting erupts at refugee camp in north Jordan" by Rick Gladstone and Nick Cumming-Bruce | New York Times, January 09, 2013
Aid agencies reported an outbreak of violence in a large refugee camp in Jordan, where a winter storm felled tents and left many frustrated inhabitants shivering in a cold rain.
Weather forecasters said another storm was threatening Syria and its neighbors with snow on Wednesday....
(Sigh)
(Sigh)
The UN appealed last month for $1.5 billion in additional aid to handle the growing crisis created by the Syrian conflict, which has left at least 60,000 people dead and is threatening to destabilize the Middle East. More than half a million Syrians have fled to neighboring countries, and the UN refugee agency has forecast a doubling of that number by the middle of 2013.
The most heavily burdened neighbors — Turkey, Jordan, and Lebanon — have been persistently calling for more international aid, particularly during the cold winter months.
At the Zaatari refugee camp, which shelters 54,000 Syrians in northern Jordan, fighting erupted Tuesday during food distribution after a night of relentless rain inundated parts of the encampment....
Better be prepared to make it your home for.... well, forever. The region has its precedents.
Better be prepared to make it your home for.... well, forever. The region has its precedents.
“The incident followed a night of heavy storms, during which torrential rains and high winds swept away tents and left parts of the camp flooded,’’ Save the Children said.
Mohammed Abu Asaker, a spokesman for the UN refugee agency, acknowledged weather-related problems at the camp, aggravated by a large number of new residents — roughly 9,000 arrivals in the past week.
“It is a difficult situation in the camp,’’ he said. ‘‘There is a frustration from the refugees.’’
Ali Bibi, a liaison officer with the refugee agency, said the violence on Tuesday was the latest in a series of at least four clashes among refugees, aid workers, and the police in recent weeks.
--more--"
Related:
"New signs of civilian desperation were emerging Thursday as well in the Syrian refugee camps of neighboring countries, particularly Jordan, where the UN children’s agency issued an unusually blunt appeal for help at a mud-soaked encampment housing more than 54,000 Syrians, most of them women and children"
Related:
"New signs of civilian desperation were emerging Thursday as well in the Syrian refugee camps of neighboring countries, particularly Jordan, where the UN children’s agency issued an unusually blunt appeal for help at a mud-soaked encampment housing more than 54,000 Syrians, most of them women and children"
"Harsh winter hits overwhelmed refugee camps" by Jodi Rudoren | New York Times, January 13, 2013
ZAATARI, Jordan — With aid agencies expecting the number of Syrian refugees to reach 1 million this year, and estimates for the cost of caring for them topping $1 billion, the misery in this struggling six-month-old camp is part of a deepening humanitarian crisis that threatens to further destabilize the Middle East.
After millions have moved from our Iraq and Afghanistan excursions (to name two outside Africa).
After millions have moved from our Iraq and Afghanistan excursions (to name two outside Africa).
More than half a million people who have already fled Syria have ended up in camps and villages across Jordan, Turkey, and Lebanon....
This after Syria took in and sheltered millions of Iraqi refugees. And this is the thanks they get? Regime change?
This after Syria took in and sheltered millions of Iraqi refugees. And this is the thanks they get? Regime change?
Life began to return to normal on Friday, but normal in this desert camp of 9 square miles crowded with more than 50,000 people is, according to the refugees and even some of those running the place, somewhere between horrible and inhumane.
There never again will be life returning to "normal," and I'm tired of that phrase being tossed around as an indicator that the media intends to move away from the issue. It's the "new normal."
There never again will be life returning to "normal," and I'm tired of that phrase being tossed around as an indicator that the media intends to move away from the issue. It's the "new normal."
‘‘There’s no silver lining on such harsh conditions,’’ acknowledged Andrew Harper, the top official of the United Nations refugee agency in Jordan. ‘‘It’s just a really, really bad place to be.’’
And Palestinian families have lived in them for decades.
And Palestinian families have lived in them for decades.
But Harper said the UN and the nonprofit groups helping it run the camp were doing the best with what they had....
Jordan, already consumed with an intense financial crisis and growing protest movement, is scrambling to keep up with the continued influx.
Zaatari is only the most visible challenge. Nearly five times as many refugees are living in Jordanian cities and villages.
Some relief is coming....
But it's not keeping up with all the water leaking into the boat. But relief and good times are a coming thanks to the global organizations that have done such a great job running this planet.
But it's not keeping up with all the water leaking into the boat. But relief and good times are a coming thanks to the global organizations that have done such a great job running this planet.
"The International Rescue Committee said it could be "months, if not years" before the refugees can return home and warned that Syria's civil war could enflame tensions in the Middle East."
Or never.
Or never.
"Syrian army unleashes offensive" by Barbara Surk | Associated Press, January 26, 2013
BEIRUT — Meanwhile, the United Nations said a record number of Syrians streamed into Jordan this month, doubling the population of the kingdom’s already-cramped refugee camp to 65,000. More than 30,000 people arrived in Zaatari in January — 6,000 in the past two days alone, the UN said.
The newcomers are mostly families, women, children, and the elderly who fled from southern Syria, said Melissa Fleming, spokeswoman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. She said the UNHCR was working with the Jordanian government to open a second major camp nearby by the end of this month.
Many of the new arrivals at Zaatari are from the southern town of Daraa, where the uprising against Assad first erupted two years ago, the Britain-based Save the Children said Friday.
Five buses, crammed with ‘‘frightened and exhausted people who fled with what little they could carry,’’ pull up every hour at the camp, said Saba al-Mobasat, an aid worker with Save the Children.
The exodus reflected the latest spike in violence in Syria’s civil war. The conflict began in March 2011 after a peaceful uprising against Assad, inspired by the Arab Spring wave of revolutions that toppled leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and Yemen, turned violent....
--more--"
And now on to those most famous (or infamous, actually) refugees on planet Earth:
"Syrian military unleashes attack on refugee enclave" Washington Post, December 17, 2012
ANTAKYA, Turkey — Syrian jets dropped bombs on a decades-old Palestinian refugee enclave in Damascus on Sunday after days of intense fighting in the crowded neighborhood between Syrian rebels and Palestinians who support the government, opposition activists said.
The attack on the Yarmouk camp, home to 150,000 Palestinians squeezed into less than one square mile, underscored the ferocity of fighting a month into a Syrian offensive to beat back the insurgents in the Syrian capital. Warplanes also bombed rebel positions on a road to Damascus International Airport.
Though Yarmouk has been shelled repeatedly by the Syrian military, this is believed to be the first time it came under an aerial attack.
The number of casualties on Sunday was unclear. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said eight civilians were killed in the attack near the mosque and a hospital. Other reports, also attributed to activists, put the death toll at 25 or more.
It's only a small thing(?), but no description of people buried in rubble that came along with the rebel areas facing such shelling in the posts below. My Zionist press really toes that line on Palestinians, 'eh?
It's only a small thing(?), but no description of people buried in rubble that came along with the rebel areas facing such shelling in the posts below. My Zionist press really toes that line on Palestinians, 'eh?
The political pressure on Syrian President Bashar Assad increased Sunday as his vice president, Farouk al-Shara, said that neither the government nor the rebels could end the conflict militarily, the pro-Syrian Lebanese newspaper Al Akhbar reported. He called for new partners in a unity government.
But rebels keep making gains every day.
But rebels keep making gains every day.
Also Sunday, an Islamist faction of Syrian rebels said it had captured an infantry base in the northern city of Aleppo, as forces fighting to topple Assad advanced on the country’s largest city.
See?
See?
A statement by the al-Tawheed Brigade said the rebels fully liberated a facility that has an army base, a recruitment center, and a military school. The al-Tawheed commander was killed in the attack, it said.
A rebel reached by Skype said fighters had seized tanks and other vehicles from the Syrian military cache, and captured several soldiers to be held as prisoners. The base was the second major army installation taken by rebels in a week in Aleppo.
Yeah, yup, yup, yup.
Yeah, yup, yup, yup.
The Yarmouk enclave in Damascus does not fit the traditional image of a refugee camp. Rather than tents, it has multistory apartment buildings, paved streets, and schools. It was established in 1957 as a squatters camp for Palestinians displaced by fighting over the establishment of Israel in 1948.
Translation: The Syrians treated their Arab brothers and sisters well -- or as well as they could afford.
Translation: The Syrians treated their Arab brothers and sisters well -- or as well as they could afford.
Syria has a total of about 500,000 Palestinians, and many of them have been caught up in the civil war. Thousands have become refugees from the refugee camp, going to neighboring countries to avoid the violence.
You gotta be f***ing kidding!
You gotta be f***ing kidding!
--more--"
The headline itself is a distorted lie, and you get tired of it.
BEIRUT — Rebel fighters, meanwhile, have claimed new gains in the war....
See: Russians Rushing From Syria
Syrian Rebels Strike Again
Who is Winning the War in Syria?
I thought I'd run 'em by ya'. See why I don't want to read and report any more?
Last week, opposition fighters tried to occupy the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp, which they planned to use as a staging ground for attacks on central Damascus, setting off a fierce battle that caused most of the camp’s residents to flee....
Related: Palestinians joining the fray in Syria
Related: Palestinians joining the fray in Syria
In a video posted on the Internet on Friday, rebel fighters threatened violence against the residents of two Christian villages in Hama Province if they did not evict loyalists known as shabiha.
The warning was met with alarm by a resident of one of the villages, al-Suqaylabiyah. The resident, a doctor who is currently in Turkey, said that the village was 95 percent Christian and that most residents had chosen not to take sides in the war. The appearance of the men in the video — ‘‘very Islamic and militarized,’’ he said — was unlikely to win the rebels any support....
Is that what revolutionaries fighting for freedom do? How many colonists did George Washington threaten or kill? That's what intelligence agency operatives and assets do, folks.
Is that what revolutionaries fighting for freedom do? How many colonists did George Washington threaten or kill? That's what intelligence agency operatives and assets do, folks.
--more--"
"Battles in Damascus expand to suburbs" by Hania Mourtada and Rick Gladstone | New York Times, February 08, 2013
BEIRUT — The Local Coordination Committees, an anti-Assad network inside Syria, reported fierce clashes between government forces and fighters of the Free Syrian Army at an entrance to Yarmouk, a longtime Palestinian refugee encampment south of Damascus that is politically delicate.
Both Assad and his opponents have sought the allegiance of the tens of thousands of Palestinians in Syria who were displaced decades ago by the Arab-Israeli conflict. Yarmouk was convulsed by fighting in December, when insurgents temporarily seized control, and again in early January.
Anti-Assad activist groups also reported an explosion near Hama that killed at least 20 government defense workers.
Gee, who coulda done that?
--more--"
"Scores of bodies found in Syrian suburb; Insurgent officer says the victims were executed" by Hania Mourtada and Alan Cowell | New York Times, January 30, 2013
BEIRUT — The United Nations reported a sharp increase in the number of refugees known officially to have fled Syria, increasing the total in neighboring countries to more than 700,000 from 500,000 in December....
In Washington, President Obama announced that the United States would donate a further $155 million to aid Syrian refugees, bringing the US total pledged as humanitarian aid to $365 million.
Look, it's not like I'm against helping or compensating Syrians who have been affected by this attempt at regime change because the responsibility does lie with the EUSraeli empire; however, at the same time we Americans here are being told we need austerity -- and now Obama is shelling out dollars for a PROBLEM THAT WOULDN'T EVEN EXIST had the globe-kickers not decided that Syria was next up on the destabilization and regime change removal list!
But that is a fraction of the $1.5 billion that the United Nations says is needed over the next six months as it issues urgent appeals for more international funding....
The equivalent of a chump-change spit in the palm of a Syrian. Sure have enough funds to outfit rebels with weapons and stuff, though.
--more--"
"Battles in Damascus expand to suburbs" by Hania Mourtada and Rick Gladstone | New York Times, February 08, 2013
BEIRUT — The Local Coordination Committees, an anti-Assad network inside Syria, reported fierce clashes between government forces and fighters of the Free Syrian Army at an entrance to Yarmouk, a longtime Palestinian refugee encampment south of Damascus that is politically delicate.
Both Assad and his opponents have sought the allegiance of the tens of thousands of Palestinians in Syria who were displaced decades ago by the Arab-Israeli conflict. Yarmouk was convulsed by fighting in December, when insurgents temporarily seized control, and again in early January.
Anti-Assad activist groups also reported an explosion near Hama that killed at least 20 government defense workers.
Gee, who coulda done that?
--more--"
"Scores of bodies found in Syrian suburb; Insurgent officer says the victims were executed" by Hania Mourtada and Alan Cowell | New York Times, January 30, 2013
BEIRUT — The United Nations reported a sharp increase in the number of refugees known officially to have fled Syria, increasing the total in neighboring countries to more than 700,000 from 500,000 in December....
In Washington, President Obama announced that the United States would donate a further $155 million to aid Syrian refugees, bringing the US total pledged as humanitarian aid to $365 million.
Look, it's not like I'm against helping or compensating Syrians who have been affected by this attempt at regime change because the responsibility does lie with the EUSraeli empire; however, at the same time we Americans here are being told we need austerity -- and now Obama is shelling out dollars for a PROBLEM THAT WOULDN'T EVEN EXIST had the globe-kickers not decided that Syria was next up on the destabilization and regime change removal list!
But that is a fraction of the $1.5 billion that the United Nations says is needed over the next six months as it issues urgent appeals for more international funding....
The equivalent of a chump-change spit in the palm of a Syrian. Sure have enough funds to outfit rebels with weapons and stuff, though.
--more--"
