UAE says over 100,000 Syrians given visas since 2011

The United Arab Emirates has provided residence visas for over 100,000 Syrians since the conflict began in the country in 2011, officials have said.

In a statement sent to the Associated Press, the UAE government said that more than 242,000 Syrian nationals currently live in the country.

“The UAE has made it one of its foreign policy priorities to address this issue in a sustainable and humane fashion together with its regional and international partners,” the statement said.

The Emirates has also provided about Dhs 2bn on humanitarian aid and development assistance in response to the Syrian crisis.

A part of that aid has being spent on a refugee camp in Jordan, which is sheltering more than 4,000 refugees from Syria.

The Syrian crisis has deepened in recent months as rival groups including the militant group Islamic State of Iraq and Levant continue to clash.

This has sparked a major outflow of migrants from the country, with most seeking refuge in Europe.

According to the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR, a record 7,000 Syrian refugees arrived in Macedonia on Monday alone, while 30,000 are on Greek islands, most of them on Lesbos.

In total, at least 850,000 people are expected to cross the Mediterranean seeking refuge in Europe this year and next, mainly from Syria, the UN has said.

While European countries are struggling to deal with the refugee crisis, questions have been raised about why the Gulf States, which are geographically and culturally closer to Syria, are not doing more to help and house the refugees.