UN reports another sharp rise in Syrian refugees

[August 17, 2012]  GENEVA (AP) -- The U.N. refugee agency says there has been another sharp rise in Syrian refugees fleeing to Turkey and that the numbers headed to Jordan -- where an estimated 150,000 have already fled -- also are climbing.

Agency spokesman Adrian Edwards says 3,500 people crossed mainly from Aleppo, Syria, and the surrounding area into the Turkish provinces of Kilis and Hatay on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Edwards told reporters Friday in Geneva there are now almost 65,000 Syrians in nine refugee camps in Turkey, about 40 percent of them new arrivals this month.

He says some 1,080 people arrived at the Ramtha and Jaber border areas in Jordan on Thursday night on top of 1,600 on Tuesday and Wednesday. Jordan's government now estimates 150,000 Syrians have crossed the border since March 2011.

[Associated Press]

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