UN says million people will be displaced by Syria war

Another million Syrians will flee their homes before the end of the year if the war continues unabated, a senior UN official has said.

Yacoub al-Hillo, the UN humanitarian coordinator in Syria, said that something must be done to resolve the escalating conflict or the exodus would continue to flow out of the region.

He said that more than a million people had already been displaced from their homes already in 2015, and called for greater international aid efforts to help Syrians survive the winter in their own country.

“Unless something big is done to resolve this conflict through political means, the human train that has started moving out of Syria and the neighbourhood will continue to be running for many months to come,” he said.

He said that because neighbouring countries, which have absorbed the bulk of the refugees, were now at crisis point, “Europe will be faced with a refugee situation similar to the one that led to the creation of [the UN Refugee Agency] UNHCR in 1950”. 

“The World Food Programme has zero dollars to provide food to 5 million people inside Syria come November.”

The absolute minimum amount needed to provide food for those affected for the rest of the year was $738m, he said.

“We still have the opportunity to invest and help many Syrians stay in Syria. Otherwise this human train will continue running in all directions, including Europe,” Hillo said.

Al-Hillo’s comments triggered widespread rallies across European and Australian cities, with thousands expressing solidarity with the plight of asylum-seekers, and others waving placards saying “Refugee lives matter” and “No human being is illegal”.

In Copenhagen, 30,000 people turned out to express solidarity with asylum seekers, while similar rallies drew thousands in Madrid and Hamburg. In Berlin, demonstrators waved a Syrian flag with "Refugees Welcome" written on it, while rallies in Stockholm, Helsinki and Lisbon each attracted around 1,000 people.

But at the same time, thousands of Eastern Europeans took to the streets to demonstrate against the influx, saying that “Islam will be the death of Europe,” and that refugees are not welcome.

Since the Syria conflict began in 2011, 250,000 people have been killed and half of the country’s population have fled their homes, 7.6 million people within the country and 4 million beyond its borders.