Iraq building camps for Syrian refugees
26/07/2012 10:03BAGHDAD, July 26 (AKnews)- Work on constructing camps for the Syrian refugees in Qa'em district on the Iraqi border has began, said an official.
Reports are that almost 167 Syrian families have entered Qa'em after Iraqi government announced its borders are open for receiving Syrians who fled the violence in their country.
International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the Iraqi Red Crescent are installing the camps after the special infrastructure for the camps was set, said Satar Newroz, deputy for general director of migrants' affairs.
Newroz said that the high committee led by the Iraqi Migration Ministry which follows up the file of Syrian refugees and Iraqi refugees in Syria has met with related bodies in Baghdad and reported to them the necessities in the border posts for facilitating the entrance of refugees.
Iraqi government has offered Iraqi refugees in Syria free flights to Baghdad. The government also transports Iraqi refugees from Walid Camp on border with Syria to Baghdad by bus.
Rights organizations say that since March 2011 more than 17,000 people have been killed in the public protests to oust Bashar al-Assad's regime.
The violence has been escalating, after the armed opposition claimed the control of some strategic cities and posts in Syria and is still advancing for liberating more areas.
This week the opposition seized the control over Albukamal border post with borders with Iraqi Anbar province.
Following the report Iraq announced it has closed down its entire 600km of border with Syria (in Anbar and Nineveh provinces) in order to prevent the infiltration of insurgents.
By Raman Brusk
LL/AKnews
