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  • Iraqi exodus to Syria

    Iraq violence sparks exodus to Syria

    On the desert border between Syria and Iraq, a group of tents clings to the shifting sands. This is a desolate place at the best of times.

    Now it has become an unwanted home to more than 300 Palestinian refugees. They fled from violence in Baghdad seven months ago, only to get stuck in no-man's land.

    As Palestinians, they do not have proper passports - so Syria will not let them in; and it is too dangerous to go back into Iraq.

    Amin Ramadan left his neighbourhood and his elderly mother when sectarian violence made it too dangerous for him to stay. Now he is trapped again.

    "It's getting really cold here at night," he said. "We have to break the ice on top of the water in the mornings. Many people are sick. We can't stay here for a long time."

    The United Nations is providing basic food and shelter, and the Syrians grant temporary access to urgent medical cases. But it is a bleak situation.

    And while the Palestinians say they would like to go to Europe or Canada, there is hardly a queue of countries willing to help.

    "We're desperately trying to find a more durable solution," admits Laurens Jolles, the UNHCR representative in Damascus, "to find someone prepared to take them in. The least favoured option is for them to remain in limbo between two countries."

    'Everyone is leaving'

    But as sad as it is, the dusty Palestinian camp is just a small statistic - part of a mass movement of people, an exodus from Iraq.

    Since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in 2003 as many as two million civilians searching for sanctuary have fled into neighbouring countries like Syria, Jordan and Iran.

    They are ill-equipped to cope. The pressure group Refugees International calls it the fastest growing humanitarian crisis in the world.

    Just up the road from the stranded Palestinians, the Syrian border crossing at al-Tanaf feels like a safe haven for Iraqis who make it this far.

    Cars and trucks are packed with possessions. But for most people, escaping into exile, the future is uncertain.

    "I'll find a place to stay, anywhere I can afford," Mohammed Abu Muhy says. "Everyone is leaving Iraq."

    And they bring everything they can carry. Expressionless faces look on as border guards rummage through their worldly goods.

    The numbers are staggering - at least three quarters of a million Iraqis have fled to Syria alone. And every month the rate of arrival is higher than it has been before.

    Read more here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6172123.stm
    "Every man has his weakness. Mine was always just cigarettes."

  • #2
    This war has created a refugee problem of considerable dimensions.

    Syria has had a few demographic impacts recently.

    1. Refugees from Iraq, from late 2003 on.
    2. Expulsion of many Syrian expatriate workers from Lebanon, 2005--Syrians had been widely employed in the construction sector.
    3. Lebanese refugees, 2006.

    Syria doesn't have the most robust of economies to handle all this inflow. The loss of expat remittances from Lebanon also hurt the Syrian economy. On the other hand, some of the wealthier Iraqis have brought a temporary boost to the Syrian economy.

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