Number of Syrian refugees exceeds 440,000: UN

Geneva: The number of Syrian refugees registered or awaiting registration in neighboring countries doubled since the beginning of September and now stands at 442,256, a spokesman with the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said Friday. Adrian Edwards said this figure does not include the hundreds of thousands more Syrians who did not come forward for registration. Number of Syrian refugees exceeds 440,000: UN UN agencies have paced up the preparation for winter for the refugees and displaced people. UNHCR has now delivered aid packages to more than 300,000 people across Syria and plans to provide such assistance to 500,000 people by the end of this year, Edwards said. The United Nations Children``s Fund (UNICEF) is urgently mobilizing more than 100,000 children``s clothing kits and around 160,000 blankets along with other winter supplies for displaced children in Syria and surrounding countries, its spokesperson Marixie Mercado told reporters. Health supplies that can meet the needs of more than 225,000 people for three months are also on their way to Syria, she said. ANI