13M Syrians displaced by conflict: UK-based NGO

By Mohamed Sheikh Yusuf

ISTANBUL (AA) - The number of people displaced internally or externally by Syria’s ongoing civil war - now in its sixth year - stands at more than 13 million, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said in a report released Monday to coincide with World Refugee Day.

According to the UK-based NGO, some 5,835,000 have fled the country since the conflict began in early 2011, half of whom were children and 35 percent of whom were women.

Men accounted for only 15 percent of the total, according the SOHR report.

Turkey, which now hosts the world’s largest refugee population, currently accommodates some 1.9 million refugees, of which Syrians account for 62 percent, the report noted.

"In terms of refugee numbers, Turkey ranks first in the world, followed by Lebanon (1,700,000 refugees) and Jordan (1,400,000 refugees)," the report reads.

The report also noted that as many as seven million Syrians had been internally displaced inside Syria, at least 4,500,000 of whom were in dire need of humanitarian assistance.

*Anadolu Agency correspondent Ahmet Sait Akcay contributed to this report from Ankara