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More than 2m flee Syria: UN

Obama secures key Republican support on strike as US redeploys ships at ME

AFP, Damascus
More than two million Syrians have fled their country, the UN refugee agency said yesterday, as President Barack Obama secured supports from key Republicans for military strikes against Syria, in a potentially significant political move.
The grim refugee statistics were described by Antonio Guterres, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, as a "disgraceful humanitarian calamity with suffering and displacement unparallelled in recent history."
He told reporters in Geneva the two- million milestone - which represents a nine-fold increase in 12 months - was not just an appalling statistic, but represents "two million individual stories. Two million people, many have lost their houses, members of their families, their possessions. "
On average, some 5,000 Syrians flee their country every day, according to his agency, the UNHCR. The flow of refugees has gathered momentum in recent weeks amid fears of a US-led strike on the Syrian regime. Obama warned as he met key congressional leaders at the White House that Syrian President Assad must pay a price for violating an international norm by unleashing what the US has said was sarin gas on a Damascus suburb last month.
The use of such weapons not only resulted in "grotesque deaths" but also risked falling into the hands of terror groups or "non-state actors," Obama warned.
"That poses a serious national security threat to the United States and to the region," Obama said. "And as a consequence, Assad and Syria needs to be held accountable."
Just over an hour later, John Boehner, the Republican speaker of the House of Representatives -- who has fought tooth and nail with Obama on domestic policy - emerged from the West Wing with a firm endorsement of the president's strategy.
"I am going to support the president's call for action," Boehner said.
"This is something that the United States as a country needs to do," Boehner said, adding that he believed his colleagues should also support Obama's request for authorization to use military force.
Moments later, another key Republican, House majority leader Eric Cantor, who is popular with the party's conservative rank and file, also backed Obama's stance.
The House, as opposed to the Democratic-led Senate, was seen as the tougher sell for Obama, after he put apparently imminent military strikes on hold on Saturday and decided to seek authorization from Congress.
While the backing of Republican leaders for strikes does not mean that lawmakers, weary of years of US wars abroad, will back military strikes, it substantially increases the odds of a yes vote, likely as soon as next week.
Obama shocked Washington and the world on Saturday when he decided to seek support for military action in Syria from Congress, putting his plans on hold and effectively giving more time for civilians to flee.
Meanwhile, US defense officials yesterday said the US Navy redeployed warships in the Middle East for any potential strikes against Syria.
The destroyer USS Mahan has left the Mediterranean while a battle group of warships led by the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz is on its way to the Red Sea from the Indian Ocean, an official said.
Earlier, hawkish senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham emerged from an hour of talks with Obama on Monday suggesting that the White House could be mulling a wider military
campaign.
McCain said he had "been given some reason to believe that very serious strikes may take place as opposed to cosmetic (ones)."
Obama's plan could be to degrade President Bashar al-Assad's capabilities and upgrade those of vetted opposition groups, McCain suggested.
Meanwhile, France yesterday urged its European Union partners to unite in response to the Syria crisis, as Paris pushes for punitive military strikes against Bashar al-Assad's regime.
"Europe must also unite on this issue. It will do so, each with its own responsibility. France will assume its own," President Francois Hollande said during a joint press conference with German counterpart Joachim Gauck.
France, which backs Obama in his determination to launch a military intervention in Syria, on Monday released an intelligence report which said Assad's forces had carried out a "massive" chemical attack last month.
Meanwhile, Assad, in a rare interview with Western media released on Monday, warned that military strikes risked setting off a wider conflict in the Middle East.
"Everyone will lose control of the situation once the powder keg explodes. Chaos and extremism will spread. There is a risk of regional war," Assad said.