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National Security Brief: Massive Flow Of Syrian Refugees Is Sapping U.N. Resources

A United Nations official said on Friday that it would soon run out of money to deal with the vast amount of Syrian refugees fleeing the civil war there and going to neighboring countries.

“The needs are rising exponentially, and we are broke,” Marixie Mercado, spokeswoman for the U.N. Children’s Fund UNICEF, said during a news conference, according to Reuters.

The 1.24 million refugees, most women and children is around 10 percent more than the U.N. expected. There are also around 3.6 million displaced within Syria.

“This is the type of crisis that humanitarian agencies at some point cannot handle any more,” Filippo Grandi, commissioner general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, which is responsible for Palestinian refugees, told the New York Times. Grandi said that by the end of the year, the U.N. will no longer have enough resources to handle the flow of refugees.

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In other news:

  • USA Today reports: The Pentagon is putting the finishing touches on rules that will give military commanders clearer authority if they have to respond to an enemy cyber-attack, military officials and cyber-security experts say.
  • South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency reports: North Korea has loaded two intermediate-range missiles onto mobile launchers and hidden them in an unidentified facility near the east coast, Seoul military sources said Friday, triggering speculation that the North is ready for an abrupt missile launch.