US official on Syria: 'half the population is suffering'

Barbara Slavin

Nov 8, 2013

Syrians refugees try to enter a truck which will transport them back to their homeland at the Al-Zaatri refugee camp in the Jordanian city of Mafraq, near the border with Syria July 30, 2013. REUTERS/Muhammad Hamed (JORDAN - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST SOCIETY IMMIGRATION) - RTX1258L — Syrians refugees try to enter a truck that will transport them back to their homeland at the Al-Zaatri refugee camp in Jordan, July 30, 2013. — REUTERS/Muhammad Hamed

Overwhelmed by refugees, Jordan is limiting the Syrian influx to a few hundred a day, while Turkey — a proud aid donor — is beginning to accept international help, said US Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and Migration Ann Richard.

In an interview with Al-Monitor, Richard, a former executive with the International Rescue Committee, said she has “never seen anything of the scale and scope” of the humanitarian disaster that is Syria today.