More than Four Million Syrian Refugees in Neighboring Countries: U.N.

There are now more than four million Syrian refugees in neighboring countries, the U.N.’s refugee agency said. The UNCHR added that it expects the total to reach 4.27 million by the end of 2015.

“This is the biggest refugee population from a single conflict in a generation. It is a population that needs the support of the world but is instead living in dire conditions and sinking deeper into poverty,” U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres said in a statement.

The U.N. body said the majority of the refugees fleeing the four-year civil war are in Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Egypt and Turkey. Of those, Turkey has the greatest number, having taken in 1.8 million Syrians.

The UNHCR said another 270,000 Syrians have asked for asylum in Europe and 7.6 million more are displaced within Syria.

“Worsening conditions are driving growing numbers towards Europe and further afield, but the overwhelming majority remain in the region,” Guterres said. “We cannot afford to let them and the communities hosting them slide further into desperation.”

Assad Accepts U.S.$1bn loan from Tehran

President Bashar al-Assad of Syria has agreed to a $1 billion credit line from the country’s main ally Iran, the state news agency SANA reported.

Assad ratified the line of credit by signing it into law on Wednesday, the agency said, adding that the money would help lessen the economic hardships caused by the protracted conflict.

The deal is between two state-owned banks, the Syrian Commercial Bank and Export Development Bank of Iran. The agreement was signed on May 19 and approved by the Syrian parliament on Tuesday, SANA said, indicating that the money would be used to import goods and commodities and to implement projects, without giving details.

Syria signed a previous $3.6 billion credit line with Iran in July 2013 that has been used up mostly for oil imports, Reuters quoted bankers as saying. That line of credit was also used to purchase hundreds of millions of dollars of much-needed Iranian consumer products, from frozen chicken and sugar to electrical goods, the news agency said.

Kurdish Fighters Reclaim Ain Issa

Kurdish-led fighters have reclaimed the strategic town of Ain Issa from Islamic State militants who grabbed it earlier this week, they said.

Ain Issa, which lies in close proximity to the main Islamic State stronghold of Raqqa and controls an intersection between Raqqa, Aleppo and Hassakeh, was overrun by Islamic State on Monday.

However, fighters from the Kurdish Popular Protection Units (YPG) –supported by a female brigade (YPJ) and U.S. airstrikes – reclaimed the town, according to reports.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed Ain Issa was back in Kurdish fighters’ hands, the BBC said.

Recommended Reads

• Foreign Affairs: Ramadan in Syria
• Council on Foreign Relations: Iran’s War in Syria
• Financial Times: The ‘Name Game’ for Syria after Assad
• US News: In Syrian ISIS Fight, Caution to the Extreme
• LA Times: Great Read in Wartime Syria, Bus Depot Is a Bridge Between Two Worlds
• Daily Star: When Israel gave Bashar Assad a lifeline