"There is no safe place in Syria any more."
The words of one displaced man may be a bit of an exaggeration, but they are symptomatic of how many Syrians feel after nearly two years of conflict.
More than half a million Syrians have fled their country; registering with the UN Refugee Agency in Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Egypt, even Iraq - living in difficult conditions in tented camps or with families that have taken them in. The better-off have left for North Africa, the Gulf and Europe.
Others affected by the violence do not make it out - either unable or reluctant to cross international borders. At least two million are displaced from their homes - living in thousands of schools and unfinished public buildings in Syria, subject to the elements and struggling to find food for their families.
Aid agencies expect the number of people seeking refuge abroad to double in the next six months, surpassing one million, as the conflict continues to ruin people's lives.
Read more:
- FILM: Where the war still echoes - Syrian refugees in Jordan
- Syria: Nowhere to run
- Syria: IDPs brace for winter in rebel-controlled camps
- Analysis: Not-so-open borders for Syrian refugees?
- Briefing: The mounting refugee crisis
- Turkey: Syrian refugees choosing to work risk exploitation
- Jordan: Syrian child refugees who work - culture or coping mechanism?
- Lebanon-Syria: The refugee minefield
- Iraq-Syria: Iraqi Kurdistan welcomes brethren, for now
- In Brief: How (not) to build a refugee camp in the desert
- Syria: Turkey opens up to international aid in camps
- Lebanon-Syria: No school today - Why Syrian refugee children miss out on education
- Syria: Fighting in capital adds to growing displacement challenge
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This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
