Excerpts from Books and Wikipedia
"Syrian refugees are citizens and permanent residents of Syria who have fled the country since the onset of the Syrian Civil War in 2011. As of February 2016, the United Nations (UN) has identified 13.5 million Syrians requiring humanitarian assistance, of which more than 6 million are internally displaced within Syria, and over 4.8 million are refugees outside of Syria. Turkey is the largest host country with over 2.7 million Syrian refugees. Assistance to internally displaced persons (IDPs) within Syria, and Syrian refugees in neighbouring countries, is coordinated largely through the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Close to 1 million Syrians have requested asylum in various countries, particularly Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, and the European Union (EU)." [Wikipedia] "More than 4.5 million people have fled Syria since the start of the conflict, most of them women and children. Neighbouring Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey have struggled to cope with one of the largest refugee exoduses in recent history. About 10% of Syrian refugees have sought safety in Europe, sowing political divisions as countries argue over sharing the burden." [BBC: Syria: The Story of Conflict]