More than 2 million fled Syria, says UN

UN’s refugee agency confirmed that the number of people who had fled Syria has reached 2 million.

14:48 03 September 2013

As France and the United States continue to push for military action against Syrian forces for allegedly using chemical weapons, the number of Syrians that were displaced because of the conflict has reached more than 2 million. This is confirmed by UN’s refugee agency.

In a statement, the UNHCR said on Tuesday: "Syria is haemorrhaging women, children and men who cross borders often with little more than the clothes on their backs.” UN agencies added that about 50per cent of refugees are children with about 75per cent of them under 11 years old.

Lebanon, Syria’s smallest neighbour, have received the most number of refuges even though it is considered one of the least able to cope countries.

Tension remains high in Syria following unconfirmed reports that US President Barack Obama may be planning more than the limited strikes that were previously proposed publicly. 

On Tuesday, Russia said that two ballistic missiles were detected being launched towards the eastern Mediterranean coastline. Although this resulted to several speculations saying that it was related to the Syrian crisis, it was later confirmed by Israel that it was a joint US-Israel missile test.