Fresh displacement crisis in Iraq as 180,000 flee town of Hit
GENEVA, October 14 (UNHCR) –The UN refugee agency reported on Tuesday that an estimated 180,000 people have fled from the central Iraq town of Hit following its capture by ISIS and affiliated armed groups at the weekend. The town’s mostly Sunni residents, as...
Whirlwind of violence surprises some residents in northern Syria
SURUC, Turkey, October 8 (UNHCR) – Faysal thought that the conflict plaguing Syria since March 2011 had bypassed his home in the north, so he was stunned when the whirlwind of violence came recently to Kobane (Ayn al-Arab). The 35-year-old civil servant had long seen...
Asylum claims from Syria, Iraq and other conflict zones rise in first half 2014
GENEVA, September 26 (UNHCR) – A UNHCR report released on Friday shows that the number of people seeking refugee status in industrialized countries continued to climb in the first half of 2014, driven by the wars in Syria and Iraq as well as conflict and instability...