Tuesday, February 22, 2005

Neighbours in tight quarters

Urging for calm. One good reason to hope Lebanon ~ Syrian tensions mellow out, from the Center of Excellence Iraq Humanitarian Assistance Report;

Refugees: A recent influx of Iraqis to Syria results in an estimated 700,000 refugees, reportedly causing housing shortages and overcrowding. (February 18 2005)

The flow of Iraqis entering Syria has increased in the past four months, with an estimated 700,000 Iraqis in Syria ... This means an increase of 400,000 Iraqis who have fled Iraq since October 2004, when Syrian officials reported 300,000 Iraqis in Syria. Reports of Iraqis living in Syria have varied from some 200,000 up to 1,000,000. As of December 2004, the official number of Iraqi refugees in Syria was 45,000. (Thursday, Feb-03-05)

The last thing anyone needs, a refugee crisis.

The Iraq Humanitarian Assistance Report is published three times a week on Monday Wednesday and Friday.

7 Comments

#2/22/2005 05:11:00 pm Assalam Aleikom Blogger CMAR II

Since these are probably ex-Ba'athists absconding with looted wealth, I'm not sure how concerned we should be.

 
#2/22/2005 05:49:00 pm Assalam Aleikom Blogger emigre

cmarr ii,

I see you opened your mind just a teensy weensy crack, almost long enough to let a thought get in. Better close it up again. Wouldn't want to catch a compassion now, would you.

 
#2/22/2005 08:37:00 pm Assalam Aleikom Blogger Lady Liberty

Very interesting site.
How do you verify the information?
I can not seem to get any refugee numbers outside of this site that are earlier than early 2004. And the latest energy numbers are from Nov. 2004.

 
#2/24/2005 01:56:00 am Assalam Aleikom Blogger emigre

praktike

If there are an estimated 700,000 refugees from Iraq in Syria, but only 15,000 (as you say) voted, then I guess that's just another reason not to hold elections under occupation - the people hardest hit by war have the least say.

Of course, many of those refugees will be children and under voting age.

The UNHCR site may be out of date, according to their site the last UNHCR statistical yearbook was published in 2003. I guess they can't keep up with all these wars.

I think practike is just trying to get a reaction.

 
#2/24/2005 01:39:00 pm Assalam Aleikom Blogger Lady Liberty

No, I think he has hit the nail on the head. This one group is giving a number that can not be verified. Are they seem to be the only ones keeping track would be collecting these numbers so they can get money from the UN.

 
#2/24/2005 06:53:00 pm Assalam Aleikom Anonymous Anonymous

lady liberty (and praktike)

16,200 search results for iraq syria refugees 700,000.

The UN is going to pay for each and every one of those sites? What with, oil vouchers?

-- numberscruncher

 
#2/25/2005 03:39:00 pm Assalam Aleikom Anonymous Anonymous

praktike

The first page of search results alone shows at least eight different sites all recently referring to that number of refugees from Iraq, in Syria.

If you searched for "iraq syria refugees" without the "700,000" bit you'd probably come up with other estimates too. 700,000 is actually a conservative figure that I punched in.

As the Humanitarian Assistance Report says, other sources have quoted up to 1,000,000. And that's only the ones that went to Syria.

--numberscruncher

 

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