Saudi Arabia Claims To Have Accepted 2.5 Million Syrian 'Refugees'

Reuters: Saudi Arabia defends aid effort towards Syria after criticism on refugees

Saudi Arabia on Friday defended its efforts to aid Syrians fleeing the conflict in their country, following criticism that Gulf countries were not taking in any refugees since the crisis broke out four years ago.

None of the six states that form the Gulf Cooperation Council -- Saudi Arabia, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar -- has signed the U.N. convention on refugees, which has governed international law on asylum since World War Two.

But Gulf states say they have taken in hundreds of thousands of Syrians since the civil war there began in 2011 -- just not as refugees.

The Saudi Press Agency (SPA) cited an official source in the foreign ministry as saying that the kingdom found it "important to clarify these efforts with facts and numbers in response to media reports, which included false and misleading accusations about the kingdom".

The source said Saudi Arabia had received nearly 2.5 million Syrians since the conflict erupted.

Update #1: Saudis defend aid provided to fleeing Syrians-- AP
Update #2: Saudi official: We received 2.5 mln Syrians -- Al Arabiya

WNU Editor: The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has acknowledged Saudi Arabia's financial assistance to the refugee crisis .... UNHCR hails Saudi aid for Syrians (Arab news), but the reports that they have published are in disagreement with Saudi claims that they have accepted 2.5 million Syrian refugees .... Gulf states under pressure to take Syrian migrants (Financial Times). I have a friend who works for UNHCR .... he has told me the to view this Saudi claim of 2.5 million Syrians in their country with a great deal of scepticism. The above video is from Arbyia news (translated) with an explanation on Saudi claims that they are assisting Syrian refugees. What is interesting is that the video gives a total far less than 2.5 million.