More than three million have fled Syria – UN

More than three million Syrians are now registered as refugees and the desperate crisis is only getting worse, the UN’s refugee agency says.

The UNHCR says Syria is now “the biggest humanitarian emergency of our era” with almost half of all Syrians forced to flee their homes.

The majority of refugees have fled to countries neighbouring Syria, with most now seeking shelter in Lebanon.

More than 190,000 have been killed in Syria’s three-year civil war.

Opposition groups in Syria have been fighting forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad since his government violently suppressed protests against his rule in March 2011.

The situation has been worsened in recent months by the formation and advance of the Islamic State group, which now controls large swathes of Syria and Iraq.

The UNHCR says one in every eight Syrians has fled across the border and a further 6.5 million are displaced within Syria. It says more than half of those uprooted are children.

The number of registered Syrian refugees has soared from two million just under a year ago.

Families arriving at refugee camps in neighbouring countries are exhausted and scared, with some having spent a year or more fleeing from village to village inside Syria.

The UN agency says the journey out of Syria is also becoming tougher, with many people forced to pay bribes to armed gangs.