Syria Bars Iraq Refugees, Crisis Worsens

WITH BC ME GEM SYRIA IRAQI REFUGEES IN A BIND - Iraqi refugees gathering in front of the offices of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees(UNHCR) to register at the UN agency on Sunday, Feb. 11, 2007. Syria has admitted more than one million Iraqi refugees since the US-led invasion of Iraq, many of them fear that new regulations imposed by Syrian authorities in which Iraqi citizens should leave the country for at least 30 days after a six-month stay, will force them to go back to war-torn Iraq where they face possible death. (AP Photo/Bassem Tellawi). (Bassem Tellawi - AP)

DAMASCUS, Syria -- Syria, the last Arab country welcoming large numbers of Iraqi refugees, is now all but closing the gates and leaving 40,000 Iraqis who flee their country each month with almost no place to go.

The new rules _ imposed without any official announcement _ also strike fear of deportation into the 1 million Iraqis already here. The worsening humanitarian crisis has resulted in calls for action by members of the U.S. Congress and a plea from the United Nations for more countries to help out.

"It's not fair that the burden is not being shared effectively. A very limited number of countries is paying a very heavy price," Antonio Guterres, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, said on a recent tour of the Mideast.

Syria kept its doors open even after others, including Jordan and Egypt with 700,000 and 130,000 Iraqi refugees respectively, said they could take no more. But the strain on its small, state-controlled economy apparently has become too great.

Until last week, Iraqis could come to Syria without a visa and stay for up to six months. At that point, they could drive to any border, leave briefly and re-enter immediately and stay for another six months _ meaning they essentially were allowed to stay indefinitely.

But Iraqis in Syria say they now receive only a 15-day permit to stay when they enter, after which they must apply for a three-month permit that can be renewed only once. After six months, any Iraqi not a student or without a job or business must leave Syria for at least 30 days before being allowed back in.

Because Iraqis can't get into any nearby country for a long period, that 30-days-away rule basically makes most Iraqis here illegal. In addition, only those renting houses in Syria can apply for residency permit _ ruling out the majority of Iraqis, who crowd into relatives' apartments.

Syrian officials have said they will not deport Iraqis. And Syrian Interior Minister Bassam Abdul-Majid said recently that the new measures were taken merely to organize the resident permits of Iraqis and get an accurate count of refugees.

However, Syrian officials refuse to publicly confirm details of the new rules, and did not respond to several calls for comment, nor to a list of questions, from The Associated Press.

Many Iraqis fear the change. This weekend, thousands lined up outside U.N. offices to try to register for refugee status, in hopes that would give them a permanent toehold somewhere in the world.

Several Iraqis told The AP in recent days that their visas have expired and that they are scared to go to the Syrian immigration department for fear of being deported _ and plan to just stay illegally.

Bashar Saleh, 33, who lived and worked as a barber in tense eastern Baqouba in Iraq, has been in Syria for almost a year. After the first six months, he drove to Lebanon where he spent one day, then drove straight back to Damascus. His visa expires this week but he doesn't know what to do this time.