“Canada is pleased to assist Jordan in meeting this challenge. Today, I am pleased to announce we are making available more than $13 million in bilateral aid to help Jordan deal with the immediate and pressing humanitarian and security needs brought on by the Syria crisis,” Foreign Affairs minister said in a statement.

“Jordan has consistently demonstrated a leadership role in the pursuit of a just and lasting peace in the Middle East, and it continues to lead in the face of the ongoing crisis in Syria. Jordan’s generosity in hosting an influx of Syrian refugees is a model for all. Some 2,000 desperate Syrians arrive in Jordan daily. Accepting them is not without sacrifice or risk domestically. It is done in the finest tradition of promoting human dignity,” he added.

Canada had previously already given Jordan $11.5 million to help with the influx.

Thousands of refugees have poured into Jordan during the past two years, exerting further pressure on Jordan’s already weak economy.

Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird made the announcement from Amman, where he met with Jordanian officials to discuss the two countries’ strong bilateral relationship, and ways to strengthen it further.  They also discussed the crisis raging in neighbouring Syria, and Jordan’s important contribution to the humanitarian response.

“Canada’s close and important relationship with Jordan is further enhanced by today’s inauguration of Canada’s new embassy building here in Amman. It was an honour to be able to do this alongside my Jordanian counterpart, Nasser Judeh. He is a dear friend and a true partner in this region.

Baird is on a 12-day tour of the Middle East, which will also include stops in Qatar, Bahrain and Israel.

34,400 Syrian refugees have arrived in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq since the Syrian conflict erupted in March last year. And they continue to come, states UNHCR , with an average of 500 people reaching Domiz every day.

Amongst them are Magi and her mother. She’s only four years old, but Syrian refugee Magi can’t shake off the sounds and images of war from her mind.

“I can’t sleep at night; I still have images of soldiers shooting from the roofs,” says the young girl in her family’s tent at the Domiz in Dohuk governorate.

War forced her family to flee the embattled northern city of Aleppo and seek shelter in northern Iraq. Her mother continues: “There were power cuts all the time in our building and prices went up significantly. It was impossible to buy bread and oil, shops were always closed and Magi was crying because she was hungry, so we decided to flee the country.”

At the camp, many of the children arrive suffering from post-traumatic symptoms such as nightmares, anxiety attacks and painful memories. UNHCR meet several children in need of professional support, as well as participation in social activities, to help them cope in their new, unfamiliar environment.

In Domiz, UNHCR identifies cases of traumatized children and refers them to the camp’s mental health unit, which is run by the Kurdistan Regional Government’s department of health. Here, experts provide psychological counselling and support to the children and their families, as well as follow up on their mental health situation.

Growing numbers of Syrians arriving with no economic resources and seeking assistance are putting increased pressure on services in all sectors, including food, shelter, water and health care.

The new arrivals, including Magi’s family, are living in transit areas while the infrastructure of the camp is being expanded to cope with the growing influx. It currently provides shelter to some 14,500 refugees.

As of early October, some 34,400 Syrian refugees have been registered in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region. Duhok governorate hosts the largest number with more than 27,000 people, followed by Erbil (5,852) and Suleimaniya (1,683).

The Kurdistan Region of Iraq continues to welcome Syrian Kurdish refugees and facilitate their integration and freedom of movement by issuing residency permits and providing access to public services. However, the situation is critical and the future for these people is most uncertain.

Since Greece made a concentrated effort to tighten the border crossing along Turkey, the main entry point for illegal immigrants to Europe, the Aegean islands are now taking the strain.

The decision to set up the four centers, according to Kathimerini, located on Chios, Lesvos, Samos and Rhodes was taken during a meeting on Monday between Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, Defense Minister Panos Panayiotopoulos, Public Order Minister Nikos Dendias and Merchant Marine Minister Costas Mousouroulis in an attempt to prevent immigrants from reaching the mainland before they are deported.

Dendias also presented to Samaras a plan code-named Ioni aimed at dealing with the influx of refugees from Syria, the paper writes.The islands are ill equipped to deal with the mass influx of migrants they warily anticipate, with particular concerns that a flood of Syrian refugees will be smuggled in from Turkey.

According to sources, the plan outlines three scenarios, foreseeing the refugees’ arrival in Greece, Cyprus and Turkey. In either of the latter two cases, Greek authorities would help the neighboring countries. In the event that the migrants arrive in Greece, the plan is to temporarily detain them on Crete. Turkey, meanwhile, is hosting more than 80,000 Syrians who have been fleeing their country’s civil war. There’s been no sign yet of a notable number of Syrians arriving to Greece. But the government in Athens is under pressure to crack down on illegal migration in general.

Earlier this month a Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) team visited the Aegean Islands of Samos, Leros, and Simi to respond to reports of a recent influx of Syrian and Afghan migrants and asylum-seekers. According to a report by MSF newly arrived migrants face limited access to health care in Greece. Infrastructure and accommodation capacity is limited and sanitation standards are inadequate in all of the facilities visited by the MSF team, and access to basic resources such as drinking water and in some cases food is limited. Personal hygiene items are unavailable, and currently used transit sites do not have separate facilities for men, women, and families.

“Based on information that we have, there are reasons to believe that there is an increase of flow of arms both ways,” Terje Roed-Larsen, the UN special envoy to the Middle East, told reporters after briefing the 15-member UN Security Councilabout Lebanon.

According to the UN special envoy there are no specialized observers for this, but information is based on a variety of sources.

According to Roed-Larsen’s briefing notes, he told the council UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had raised the issue of cross-border arms transfers with Lebanese officials during a recent visit to Beirut, urging them to improve border control, Reuters reported.

In late April, a ship bound for Syria loaded with three containers was detained by the Lebanese navy. The cargo vessel, which originated from Libya, was found on Saturday containing heavy machine guns, artillery shells, rockets, rocket launchers and other explosives

The UN special envoy stressed that the situation in Syria reminds us of Lebanon in the 1970′s.

“If you look at the situation in Syria, which is maybe the most likely that might spill over, then in a way it reminds us of the situation in Lebanon and in its neighbouring countries in the 1970s. And this is what I fear,” said the envoy.

Roed-Larsen said there was complete “uncertainty” over what will happen and that it was necessary for the UN Security Council to be ready to face the issue.

Meanwhile, Annan said, addressing the Security Council via videoconference in Geneva that there had been “a spate of bombings that are really worrying” and that the UN mission, mandated with monitoring a April 12 ceasefire in the country, was “the only remaining chance to stabilise the country”.

The international envoy tasked with bringing an end to the violence in Syria , said his six-point peace plan is a “possible last chance to avoid civil war.”

Annan told the UN Security Council he planned to carry out a second trip to Syria since he was named special envoy.

There are only around 60 UN observers in Syria, although the team is expected to grow to 300 in the coming weeks. The UN says it has registered more than 24,000 Syrian refugees in Lebanon, while activists say there are more than 30,000.