UN agency says Syrian refugees hit million mark in Lebanon, calls it 'devastating milestone' | iNFOnews | Thompson-Okanagan's News Source
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UN agency says Syrian refugees hit million mark in Lebanon, calls it 'devastating milestone'

In this Thursday, March 27, 2014 photo, Ziad Zehori, 24, left, who lost his leg in a Syrian government airstrike on Sept. 25, 2013, sits as Mohammed Kurdi, right, a physiotherapist for Handicap International, checks his thigh, at the Syrian refugee camp in Zahleh, in the Bekaa valley, Lebanon. Syria’s civil war, which entered its fourth year last month, has killed more than 140,000 people. An often overlooked figure is the number of wounded more than 500,000, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross. An untold number of those, there’s no reliable estimate even, have suffered traumatic injuries that have left them physically handicapped. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

BEIRUT - The U.N. refugee agency says the number of Syrian refugees in Lebanon has exceeded 1 million, calling it a "devastating milestone" for the tiny Arab country with depleted resources and an explosive sectarian mix of its own.

Three years after Syria's conflict started, Lebanon has become the country with the highest per-capita concentration of refugees worldwide, struggling to cope with a massive crisis that has become an unprecedented challenge for aid agencies.

Also, Syria's sectarian war has frequently spilled over into Lebanon, with deadly clashes between factions supporting opposing sides in the fighting next door.

The UNHCR said Thursday the 1 million Syrians are a huge burden for Lebanon, which has 4.5 million people.

The agency registers 2,500 new refugees daily in Lebanon — more than one person per minute.

News from © The Associated Press, 2014
The Associated Press

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