US to resettle more Syrian refugees in the near future

BEIRUT — Washington is planning to increase the number of Syrian refugees allowed to resettle in the United States, mostly for vulnerable cases, a US official said Thursday.

Assistant Secretary of State Anne Richard said the numbers will still be very small compared with the nearly 4 million Syrians who have become refugees in neighbouring countries, mostly Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey.

Richard told reporters at the US embassy in Beirut that the US has received 648 Syrian refugees since the crisis began in 2011. She said the US is "moving to bring more refugees to the United States”, and that between 1,000 and 2,000 will be brought in by the end of September and several thousand others in 2016.

Washington seeks to bring "those who have severe medial conditions, widows and orphans" and traumatised people, she said.

Richard came to Lebanon from Kuwait where she took part in a donors' conference Tuesday that pledged $3.8 billion to help Syrians affected by the civil war.

At the conference, the US promised the largest single commitment of $508 million. Of that pledge, $118 million will be spent and invested in Lebanon, a country hosting 1.2 million Syrians, or nearly a quarter of its population, Richard said.

Richard added that after Lebanon, where she met some officials and visited a school where Syrian refugees are staying, she will be going to Turkey and Jordan.