Syria civil war: The map that shows how few safe havens there are left

The map, compiled by humanitarianresponse.info based on United Nations figures, shows that 358,666 new IDPs were recorded in Idlib province, in the north-west, and 222,481 were recorded in al-Hasakah in the far north-east, between January and July.

Idlib, a stronghold of an alliance of jihadist and Islamist called the Army of Conquest, has come under heavy bombing from government war-planes in recent days.

The city of Al-Hasakah and its surrounding governerate are largely controlled by Kurdish and Christian forces, though around a third of the territory is Isis extremists.

The city has come under siege from Isis in recent months amid fierce fighting.

Al-Raqqah, capital of the self-proclaimed Islamic State caliphate, recorded 155,075 new IDPs while Deiz-ez Zoor, one of the few eastern outposts of the regime and also the scene of heavy fighting, received 75,000 people from the west, whose destination is unknown.

The United Nations Office for Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimates that 7.6 million people have displaced by the Syrian conflict since 2011, and 12.2 million people, including 5.6 million children, are in need of humanitarian assistance inside the country.

More than 175,000 Syrians and nearly 10,000 Iraqis have made the dangerous sea journey to Greece this year, part of a massive influx fueled largely by the civil war.

On Sunday, the US Secretary of State John Kerry announced that his country would significantly increase the number of worldwide refugees it takes in over the next two years, though not by nearly the amount many activists and former officials have urged.

The US will accept 85,000 refugees from around the world next year, up from 70,000, and that total would rise to 100,000 in 2017, Kerry said at news conference with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier after the two discussed the mass migration of Syrians.

"This step is in keeping with America's best tradition as a land of second chances and a beacon of hope," Kerry said. The majority of those taken in would be Syrians, American officials said, though some will also come from conflict areas in Africa.

(independent.co.uk)