audio, stills, text and or video: Go to zReportage.com to see more - Brutal warfare has been forcing refugees to flee across the border from Syria to Lebanon. But those who escape the fighting now face a new adversary almost equally harsh, a brutally cold winter. A year ago, refugees could find space to shelter in Arsaa, but now the town has doubled in size with a almost daily influx of refugees who are fleeing civil war in Syria. One of the world's largest forced migrations since World War II is transforming the Middle East. The UN and governments sheltering refugees have estimated that between 2.3 million and 2.8 million Syrians have fled their country. According to the United Nations that number is increasing by 3,000 people a day, and climbing in the conflict that has lasted almost three years. The cost of the Syrian civil war on the population has risen to beyond the estimated 125,000 people killed and the tens of thousands maimed. The huge influx of refugees into bordering countries like Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey - is testing these already fragile economies and threatens to destabilize the region.
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Dec. 15, 2013 - Beirut, Lebanon - Mohamed Kodar, a 12-year-old Syrian refugee, who fled to Lebanon from Syria with his mother and brother after their father was killed by a grenade tries to sell candy to survive.
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Nov. 29, 2013 - Arsal, Lebanon - A man sits in a refugee camp hospital on the border of Lebanon and Syria.
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Nov. 29, 2013 - Arsal, Lebanon - Helping hands comfort a baby at a refugee camp on the border of Lebanon and Syria.
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Nov. 29, 2013 - Arsal, Lebanon - A woman sits bedside at a refugee camp hospital on the border of Lebanon and Syria.
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Dec. 10, 2013 - Beirut, Lebanon - A woman refugee covers herself with a scarred hand at the UNHCR center.
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Dec. 15, 2013 - Beirut, Lebanon - Brothers KODAR, MOHAMED, 12, MAHMOUD, 13, and AHMED, 11 have fled to Lebanon from Syria with their mother after their father was killed by a grenade.
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Dec. 2, 2013 - Beirut, Lebanon - A refugee girl holds a broom in the village.
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Nov. 29, 2013 - Arsal, Lebanon - A refugee family at the camp on the border of Lebanon and Syria.
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Dec. 2, 2013 - Arsal, Lebanon - A woman refugee looks over the village.
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Dec. 10, 2013 - Beirut, Lebanon - Refugees at the UNHCR center watch 'Clowns Without Borders' perform for the children.
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Dec. 10, 2013 - Beirut, Lebanon - A child refugee is treated by a doctor at the UNHCR center.
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Dec. 2, 2013 - Arsal, Lebanon - A refugee from Syria looks out at the village.
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Dec. 10, 2013 - Beirut, Lebanon - AMIN, a 1-year-old Syrian refugee, will be treated by a doctor at the UNHCR center.
© Jerker Ivarsson/Aftonbladet/zReportage.com via ZUMA Press
Dec. 15, 2013 - Beirut, Lebanon - MAHA, 8 and AISHA,10, lost their mother and brother in the war in Syria. Now they have fled to Lebanon. Their father leaves them in the same place every morning where they wait for him the whole day.
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Dec. 2, 2013 - Arsal, Lebanon - A mother and son, both refugees from Syria, take a walk in the village.
© Urban Andersson/Aftonbladet/zReportage.com via ZUMA Press
