Iraqis fleeing conflict flood over borders

BEIRUT, Feb 1 (Reuters) Violence in Iraq and instability in Lebanon are driving hundreds of thousands of people abroad in an upheaval not matched in the West Asia since the exodus of Palestinian refugees when Israel was created in 1948.

While Lebanese usually migrate legally to countries of their choice, Iraqis are fleeing across borders in distress to escape the bombings, death squads and sectarian cleansing that have savaged their country since the US-led invasion in 2003.

Most of the Iraqis are ending up in countries that already host large Palestinian communities drawn from the 4.3 million Palestinian refugees registered with the United Nations.

The carnage in Iraq has also uprooted about half the 30,000 Palestinian refugees who lived there in Saddam Hussein's time, forcing them into a second exile or stranding them in limbo.

About 700 Palestinians have been stuck for months in wretched camps on the Iraqi-Syrian border after fleeing violence in Baghdad, despite UN appeals for Arab states to let them in.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees says up to 50,000 Iraqis abandon their homes every month. ''Iraq is the big one,'' UNHCR's regional representative Stephane Jaquemet told Reuters.

The agency estimates that up to 2 million Iraqis have moved to neighbouring countries, mainly Syria and Jordan, before and since the war, while 1.7 million are internally displaced.

Jaquemet said he feared Syria and Jordan, which each host anywhere between half a million and a million Iraqis, might eventually close their borders to the refugees -- many of whom are fast exhausting whatever resources they brought with them.

TIGHTENING CONTROLS Jordan already interrogates and turns away some Iraqi migrants at the frontier, especially young men who fail to convince the authorities they risk persecution at home.

Syria, already home to 432,000 Palestinian refugees, has been the most welcoming host for Iraqis, despite the extra burdens they create in a struggling economy where jobs are scarce and public services are creaky.

Yet Damascus, often accused by the United States of helping Iraqi insurgents, wins little international appreciation for its contribution in shouldering the Iraqi refugee burden.

Tens of thousands of Iraqis have also sought safety in Iran, Egypt, Lebanon, Turkey and Arab Gulf states. Only a tiny fraction of those who apply for formal refugee status with the UNHCR are accepted for resettlement in the West.

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