Saudis and their Gulf State allies create many refugees but allow almost none into their countries

The lion's share of refugees from Syria are in Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan. The Gulf States such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE have taken in few if any refugees while at the same time their citizens help finance groups fighting the Syrian civil war.

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Jordan has about 828,000 refugees within its borders. Turkey has a whopping 1.8 million. Lebanon has 1.2 million, almost a quarter of its population, an overwhelming burden on a country that already faces a difficult time trying to control the divisions between Sunni and Shia groups. The Gulf Arab states are not the only countries in the area not taking a share of the refugees.Israel is constructing a fence to keep them out. Some opposition members have criticized the move and say Israel should allow refugees into Israel.

Some reports claim that many of the Gulf States have accepted zero refugees: As Amnesty International recently pointed out, the “six Gulf countries — Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain — have offered zero resettlement places to Syrian refugees.” This claim was echoed by Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, on Twitter:

While there may be few refugees in these countries, none of these countries are signatories to the UN Convention on Refugees, and so Syrians in those countries will not be classified as such. They must be able to enter the country through a visa. Syrians who meet the qualifications for a visa could very well be fleeing Syria to some of these states. An estimated 500,000 Syriansare in Saudi Arabia. These Syrians did not need to seek refugee status.

The Saudis and their Gulf States coalition are creating refugees not only in Syria but also Yemen through their bombing campaign and military drive to reinstate the government-in-exile of Manour Hadi. This is all done with the support and encouragement of the United States. Obama reaffirmed his support for this operation even though it is creating a continuing humanitarian disaster. With recent successes in southern Yemen, the Saudis appear determined to carry on the war rather than seek peace with the Houthis. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees(UNHCR) estimates that almost 100,000 people have fled the Yemen fighting since it started in late March. UNCHR says that it has received only one fifth of its funding needs. Refugees are pouring into countries such Djibouti and Somalia which are desperately poor already. In Somalia 28,000 people have arrived but the UNCHR has received just 5 percent of the $64 million it needs.

Meanwhile, King Salman arrives for his meeting with Obama and books an entire Four Seasons hotel for his huge entourage. Ordinary rooms at the hotel run at $400 per night and suites up to $2,000. When King Salman visited France he took along an entourage of a thousand and had a public beach closed off. Locals were so enraged, Salman decided to leave early. The Gulf States might claim that they are spending considerable sums to help refugees. Yet, their collective donations add up to less than a billion dollars. The US alone spends about four times as much. However, the US has taken in very few Syrians , 1,519 since 2011. At the same time the Saudis and their allies are spending more and more money on their military campaign in Yemen. U.S. companies profit from this as much of the weaponry and equipment is bought from the United States.

Funding shortfall forces WFP to suspend vouchers for 1.7 million displaced Syrians

More than 1.7 million Syrians have taken refuge in Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq and even Egypt. The UN World Food Programme(WFP) has helped feed these refugees through a system of vouchers that can be used at local stores.

The WFP is facing a funding crisis that has forced the organization to suspend vouchers for hundreds of thousands of refugees already. The program has been in place since the Syrian conflict began back in March 2011. The WFP also provides food for internally displaced Syrians within Syria itself but outside Syria it has used the voucher programme. The program has injected about $800 million into the economies of host countries. The WFP has been unable to provide the $64 million needed to support Syrian refugees in December. In contrast, the Pentagon estimates the cost of military operations against the IS at between $210 and $300 million per month. Yet the international community as a whole is unable to provide less than a third of that to feed those displaced by military action in Syria. Lack of funding has also led WFP to cut rations provided to those internally displaced within Syria, numbering 4.25 million people.
 Ertharin Cousin, executive director of WFP, appealed to donors to honor their commitments and warned of the negative effects of suspension of the program on refugees: “[It] will endanger the health and safety of these refugees and will potentially cause further tensions, instability and insecurity in the neighbouring host countries. The suspension of WFP food assistance will be disastrous for many already suffering families.” Winter is coming on soon and many refugees in Lebanon and Jordan are living in tents, in poor hygienic conditions with many children lacking even shoes and warm clothes.
 Muhannad Hadi, regional emergency coordinator for the Syria crisis echoed Cousin's concerns: “We are very concerned about the negative impact these cuts will have on the refugees as well as the countries which host them.These countries have shouldered a heavy burden throughout this crisis.” The WFP had warned three months ago that it was facing a whopping 89 percent funding shortfall. The WFP said in November that it needed $412.6 million over the next three months for almost 3 million Syrian refugees.
 The Guardian reports that as well as killing more the 200,000 there are 6.5 million Syrians displaced within the country and another more than 3 million outside Syria. The WFP has also cut rations of refugees in camps in Kenya as well for lack of funds. Some critics say that the WFP is simply using the suspension as a way to obtain more funding. In a telephone conversation Emilia Casella, a spokesperson for the WFP denied this and said: "We did foreshadow it. We did warn about it. We’ve exhausted all the options that we had. We weren’t crying wolf.”
 While the UN as a whole may be weak and impotent, programmes such as those run by the WFP are crucial in helping to alleviate the suffering of those who face horrible conditions through no fault of their own. The WFP deserves more support. If money can be found to finance military actions surely money can be found to mitigate the results of those actions on innocent refugees.