Nearly 230,000 Syrian refugees in neighbouring countries: UN

United Nations, Sep 1 (IANS) The number of registered Syrian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and Turkey has reached nearly 230,000, according to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).

"In Turkey, the (UN) Agency said that two more refugee camps -- which together can host 23,000 refugees -- have been opened in the last week to accommodate new arrivals," Xinhua quoted UN spokesperson Farhan Haq as saying during a news briefing here.

"Another three sites which can host 10,000 refugees each are set to open next month," he added.

Some 1,400 Syrians have been arriving every day at the Za'tari camp in Jordan in the past week, bringing the camp's population to more than 23,000, Haq said. "The Agency and its partners are working to expand the site to receive more arrivals and improve conditions."

The number of Syrians fleeing to Kurdistan in Iraq has risen in the last two weeks, the spokesperson said, adding that Agency staff visited eight shelters in Damascus Thursday and confirmed that sanitation, bedding, water and food were urgently needed.