UN: Over 265,000 Syrian refugees in Lebanon

The number of Syrian refugees in Lebanon receiving aid from the UN, the Lebanese government and NGOs has exceeded 265,000, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees ( UNHCR) said in its weekly report Sunday. More than 174,000 Syrian refugees are registered and around 99, 000 are in the process of registration, the report said, adding that most of the displaced Syrians arrive from Homs, Idlib, Damascus and Aleppo. A total of 84,482 Syrian refugees are registered in north Lebanon, 66,601 in the eastern Bekaa region, and 23,379 in south Lebanon and Beirut, it said. The UN office also said that it can complete the registration of 2,000 Syrian refugees daily, compared to 1,500 in the past months. On Wednesday, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said the number of people fleeing the Syrian infighting could reach 1.1 million by June. The international community needs to support a one-billion-U.S. dollar plan, pushed by the UN and other international groups, to address the needs of those displaced by the Syrian conflict, Guterres said. The humanitarian situation in Syria is "the most dramatic crisis we are facing today," he said, urging developed nations, including those in Europe, to accept more refugees, as Turkey, Jordan, and Lebanon have done.