More Than 5 Million Refugees, 6 Million Internally Displaced Syrians

There are now more than 5 million registered Syrian refugees, the United Nations said on Thursday, Al Jazeera reported.

More than 250,000 Syrian refugees registered with the U.N. in the first three months of 2017, bringing the total number to 5.1 million, according to the refugee agency UNHCR.

Turkey hosts the highest number of Syrian refugees, with nearly 3 million registered.

One year ago, UNHCR urged other countries to resettle at least 10 percent of the most vulnerable refugees, but only 250,000 places have been offered so far.

An additional 6.3 million people are internally displaced, according to UNHCR. Syria’s prewar population was an estimated 22 million.

Assad No Longer a U.S. Priority, Says Ambassador to U.N.

The United States is seeking a new approach to end the six-year conflict in Syria that does not focus on ousting President Bashar al-Assad, Al Jazeera reported.

Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., said Washington will now concentrate on working with powers including Turkey and Russia to find a political solution, adding, however, that the U.S. condemned Assad’s history of human rights abuses.

“You pick and choose your battles,” Haley said. “And when we’re looking at this, it’s about changing priorities – and our priority is no longer to sit and focus on getting Assad out.”

“We can’t necessarily focus on Assad the way the previous administration maybe did. Do we think he’s a hindrance? Yes,” she said. “Are we going to sit there and focus on getting him out? No.”

Alongside meetings with Turkish officials in Ankara, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the “longer-term status of President Assad will be decided by the Syrian people.”

ISIS Claims Twin Suicide Attacks in Damascus

A publication linked to the so-called Islamic State claimed responsibility for two suicide attacks in Damascus earlier this month, the Associated Press reported.

The twin attacks on March 15 hit the Justice Palace and a restaurant, killing 30 people.

A bomb blast earlier in the month targeting a bus in Damascus carrying Iraqi Shiite pilgrims was claimed by the former al-Qaida affiliate in Syria, Jabhat Fatah al-Sham, now part of the Tahrir al-Sham alliance.

RECOMMENDED READS:

• Reuters: Engineers Repair Syria’s Tabqa Dam Spillways After Shelling
• The Century Foundation: Four Perspectives on Syria, Round II
• Foreign Policy: There Are No Real ‘Safe Zones’ and There Never Have Been
• Al-Jumhuriiya: Victories in Fictitious Battles
• The Los Angeles Times: Trump Administration Stops Disclosing Troop Deployments in Iraq And Syria