Baghdad: More than 7,000 Syrian refugees in Iraq have crossed back to the rebel-held Syrian border town of Albu Kamal in recent weeks due to better security there, an Iraqi official said on Sunday.
The reverse flow coincides with a lull in battles and air raids by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's military, which has been on the offensive elsewhere in Syria, especially in the western town of Qusair, around Damascus and in the south.
The mayor of the Iraqi border town of al-Qaim said 7,000 out of 11,000 Syrian refugees hosted there had returned home.
"Each week, we receive refugee requests to go back to their towns across the border, they are freely going back," Farhan Ftaikhan told Reuters by telephone....
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07:22 AM, Jun 03, 2013
Rameswaram: Two persons who were planning to send several Sri Lankan Tamil refugees to Germany using fake Indian passports were on Wednesday arrested and 71 counterfeit passports seized from them at Naripaiyur in Ramanathapuram district, police said. Cash to the tune of Rs 11.5 lakh was also seized from the duo by the 'Q' Branch Police which nabbed them on a tip-off. The two had promised 71 refugees that they...
12:46 AM, May 02, 2013
New Delhi: Pakistani Hindu refugees, who have escaped the country fearing violence are hoping that India will provide them an asylum. They are hoping that their children will get a chance at a better life in India. Fifteen-year-old Ramkali's fate has dealt many cruel blows. A refugee from Pakistan, she fled Pakistan's Hyderabad to give her newborn daughter a chance at a better life. But last week, her daughter died...
09:57 AM, Apr 12, 2013
New Delhi: A day after CNN-IBN highlighted the plight of 400 Pakistani Hindus seeking asylum in New Delhi, there may be some immediate relief in store it seems. Their visas have now been extended for a month by the Indian government. Sources in the Ministry of Home Affairs have indicated to CNN-IBN that the fresh batch of Pakistani Hindus in India will not be deported even though their visas have...
07:09 PM, Apr 10, 2013
New Delhi: A day after CNN-IBN highlighted the plight of 400 Pakistani Hindus seeking asylum in New Delhi, there may be some immediate relief in store it seems. The government seems to have finally stepped in to reassure them of being able to stay. Sources in the Ministry of Home Affairs have indicated to CNN-IBN that the fresh batch of Pakistani Hindus in India will not be deported even though...
03:49 PM, Apr 10, 2013
Rising extremism in Pakistan is forcing Hindu families to flee the country and seek refuge in India. Their visas have expired, but the refugees are too scared to return. The Ministry of External Affairs has given them an extension of one month, but the question is whether that is enough. ...
11:44 PM, Apr 09, 2013
New Delhi: Rising extremism in Pakistan is forcing Hindu families to flee the country and seek refuge in India. Their visas have expired, but the refugees are too scared to return. The Ministry of External Affairs has given them an extension of one month, but the question is whether that is enough. It's a visa deadline that 20-year-old Jamuna says could turn into a death sentence for her. "I will...
09:05 AM, Apr 09, 2013
Angelina Jolie has opened another girls school in Afghanistan and plans to fund more from the proceeds of a jewelry line going on sale this week. ...
11:19 AM, Apr 02, 2013
Syria's civil war is pushing more people than ever to flee the country. Over the past few months, the exodus has accelerated and now the UN is reporting a dramatic milestone. The number of refugees from the conflict has passed the one-million mark. ...
10:05 AM, Mar 07, 2013
Syria said on January 4 that a car bomb at a crowded petrol station in Damascus was set off by "terrorists", a term it uses for rebels seeking to topple President Bashar al-Assad. The blast on January 3 night killed 11 people and wounded 40 at a station packed with Syrians queuing for fuel, which has become scarce in the 21-month insurgency against Assad, in the second petrol station attack...
12:35 PM, Jan 05, 2013
UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres on Wednesday praised India's policy of protecting and assisting refugees in the country. ...
10:24 PM, Dec 19, 2012
Beirut: As many as 11,000 people fled Syria in 24 hours, some of them desperately clambering through a razor-wire fence into Turkey on Friday to escape fierce fighting between rebels and government forces for control of a border town. The exodus is a sign of the escalating ferocity of the violence, which has killed more than 36,000 people since March 2011. Despite the bloodshed, embattled President Bashar Assad insisted there...
04:26 AM, Nov 10, 2012
Geneva: Up to 700,000 Syrian refugees may flee abroad by the end of the year, the UN refugee agency said on Thursday, nearly quadrupling its previous forecast for the exodus from the deepening crisis. Most faced what was likely to be a bitterly cold winter living in tents with little prospect of returning to their homeland, it said. The agency urged Western donors to help raise nearly $500 million to...
01:18 AM, Sep 28, 2012
New Delhi: Nearly 200 Pakistani Hindus reached Jodhpur in Rajasthan late on Sunday evening after nearly a three-month long trek. The families have sought refugee status and protection of their religious freedom. More than 350 Pakistani Hindus have reached India over the past two months seeking refuge and protection of their religious freedom. The families that arrived on Sunday have been temporarily accommodated in a temple campus in Jodhpur. ...
07:36 AM, Sep 10, 2012
United Nations: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has expressed concern over the "highly dangerous" militarisation of conflict in Syria, even as the world body said that over 100,000 people fled the country in August. The United Nations refugee agency reported that the number of Syrians fleeing to neighbouring countries rose to over 100,000 in August, the highest monthly total to date. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)...
04:14 PM, Sep 05, 2012
Islamabad: An explosives-laden car rammed a vehicle leaving the US Consulate in Peshawar city of northwest Pakistan on Monday, killing at least three persons and injuring over a dozen others, including foreigners. The incident occurred a short distance from the US Consulate and an office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees at Aabdara Road in Peshawar, the capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province. Police said the vehicle leaving the US...
11:18 AM, Sep 03, 2012
Kolkata: West Bengal would shelter those fleeing the riots in Assam and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's attention has been drawn to the violence in the neighbouring state, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Tuesday. Stating that many people had crossed over to the state, Banerjee said "We will protect them and care for them. They are our guests. "I spoke to Prime Minister at the UPA coordination committee meeting," Banerjee...
05:18 PM, Aug 28, 2012
The state government had set August 15 as the deadline for rehabilitating thousands of refugees living in makeshift relief camps. ...
11:41 PM, Aug 16, 2012
New Delhi: From sleeping on the pavements to makeshift relief camps to finally having a roof over their head, the journey for a few Hindu families from Pakistan to India has not been easy. Those who have managed to escape to India say they are too scared to return and want to stay here for good. For 80-year-old Bakhtavari, it's a new found sense of freedom forever since she came...
08:19 AM, Aug 11, 2012
Bolpur (WB): West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday said her government would take the "best care" of refugees who had crossed over to the state from Assam following the ethnic violence there. "Refugees have crossed over to West Bengal from Assam since riots broke out at Kokrajhar and other areas and we have provided them shelter like our brothers and sisters. We will take the best of care...
05:40 PM, Jul 27, 2012
