Rise in young Syrian refugees in one camp up by population of Cork city in year

More than a million children have been forced to leave Syria to flee the ongoing crisis.

A refugee camp is seen in the Syrian territory near Cilvegozu at the Turkish border. Pic: PA.

The UN High Commission for Refugees has confirmed that the tragic milestone of two million refugees has been reached.

In addition, at least 4.5 million people have been driven from their homes inside Syria by the violence, meaning that close to a third of the country’s population has been displaced by the civil war.

Most of those who have had to flee Syria are concentrated in four countries; Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq.

Aoife McDonald is external relations officer with the UNHCR and is currently stationed in the Za'atari refugee camp in Jordan.

She said that the number of people under 18 who have arrived in their camp in the past year is the same as the population of Cork city.

A refugee camp is seen in the Syrian territory near Cilvegozu, top left, at the Turkish border. Pic: PA.

The humanitarian crisis in Syria is now said to be one of the worst ever seen.

While thousands continue to flee the country every day President Bashar al Assad has maintained that his forces were not behind a chemical weapons attack in Damascus two weeks ago.

Both France and the US have made it clear they believe Syrian forces were behind the chemical weapons use and have both threatened military action.

But in an interview with French newspaper Le Figaro, Assad said the West must prove that he used chemical weapons against his own people.