Syria Neighbours Alarmed by Refugee Flow, Want More Aid Access

The four main host countries forSyrian refugees said at a meeting on Sunday that only the wider distribution ofaid inside Syria could curb an exodus that is putting huge strains onneighbouring states.

After talks at the Zaatari camp in Jordan with the UN highcommissioner for refugees, ministers from Turkey, Iraq, Jordan and Lebanonurged the implementation of a UN resolution passed in February that demandedrapid unhindered access for aid.

"A crucial aspect of ending this crisis is to improveaccess for humanitarian aid inside Syria," High Commissioner AntonioGuterres told reporters. Aside from some 3 million refugees abroad, a further6.5 million were displaced inside Syria and 3 million had minimal access toessential services, he said.

"This is the worst catastrophic humanitarian situationwe are facing, probably since the Rwanda genocide," he added. "We arenow clearly above 3 million Syrian refugees."

In just over three years, the conflict has killed over140,000 of Syria's roughly 23 million people.

Turkey, deeply hostile to Syrian President Bashar al-Assadand host to 720,000 registered Syrian refugees, wants U.N. camps establishedinside Syria: "The U.N. system should establish camps within Syria for theinternally displaced so that the refugee crisis would at least be undercontrol," Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said after the meeting atZaatari.

"But here the barrier is the regime."

Jordan and Iraq, less willing to antagonise Assad, do notshare Turkish enthusiasm for internal camps. And Guterres said violence in thecountry would make it hard to set them up.

Davutoglu said humanitarian conditions had worsened sincethe UN aid resolution. A first convoy of 78 trucks that entered Syria in Marchafter repeated UN requests to Damascus barely met a single day's requirements,he said.

Syria's government has let some supplies through crossingsit controls with Lebanon and Jordan. It has traded blame with the rebels forproblems getting aid to the worst battle zones.

New attacks, notably by crude "barrel bombs", werepushing more Syrians to flee the country, Davutoglu added.

Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Joudeh said the kingdom,dependent on aid itself, was barely coping with 1.3 million Syrians livingamong the country's seven million population.

"The pressures this is causing on resources and societyare unprecedented and is stretching thin the abilities of the government tocontinue to provide for the refugees," he said.

Jordan has sharply reduced the influx of Syrians over thepast year by closing the most accessible unofficial border crossings, forcingthose fleeing the violence into long detours.