UN Thousands of Syrians flee into Iraqi Kurdistan

Thousands of Syrian refugees streamed into Iraqi Kurdistan after Iraq opened a temporary bridge over the Tigris River, U.N. officials said Tuesday. The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said at least 30,000 people have entered Iraq in the past few days and thousands more are waiting, the United Nations said in a release. Iraq opened the temporary Peshkhabour pontoon bridge to help several hundred people who were camped in the area. "With several tens of thousands of people having crossed since last week, this new exodus from Syria is among the largest we have so far seen during the conflict, which is now into its third year," U.N. HCR spokesman Dan McNorton said in Geneva, Switzerland. U.N. officials say at least 2 million people have fled Syria since mass protests against the government of President Bashar Assad began in 2011. The largest groups are in Lebanon and Turkey with about 155,000 in Iraq. The recent refugees said they wanted to get out of the country because of renewed bombing, factional fighting in Syria and the collapse of the economy. The Washington Post reported rebels in Syria got a recent boost from captured arsenals. Intelligence analysts with the U.S. State Department told the Post the rebels seized anti-tank missiles during fighting around Damascus and armored vehicles, machine guns and rockets from a Syrian air base. The base was taken in a joint operation by Islamists and secular rebel fighters who split the haul, analysts said. The Syrian Network for Human Rights in London said it documented 56 fatalities in Syria Tuesday, including three children, four women and four individuals who were tortured to death. The group's figures have not been verified independently.