Syrian UN envoy praises refugee camps

The new international envoy tasked with ending the conflict in Syria visited a refugee camp in Turkey, saying that he hopes the Syrians will find peace soon.

Lakhdar Brahimi, who has called his new job “nearly impossible”, toured a camp in the Turkish border province of Hatay yesterday. Syrian refugees demonstrated outside the camp, waving a rebel flag and denouncing Syrian President Bashar Al Assad.

With no signs of the crisis abating, activists estimate that about 23,000 people have been killed and the UN says more than 250,000 people have become refugees in Jordan, Turkey, Lebanon and Iraq. About 83,000 refugees have found shelter in 12 camps along the Turkish border with Syria.

Brahimi said it appeared refugees were being treated well in Turkey and that he hoped for an end to the violence.

“We hope that their country finds peace again and they can return to their country as early as possible,” he said.

Meanwhile, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said any intervention in Syria would only be possible with the full backing of the US.

Hague told the UK parliament’s foreign affairs committee yesterday that he wasn’t advocating a military intervention, but that the option could not be ruled out amid an escalating crisis.

“It would require inter­vention on a vastly greater scale than was the case in Libya, with no prospect at the moment of agreement at the UN Security Council, and would require the full involvement of the United States,” Hague said.