Foley is scheduled to tour Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. Yesterday, he landed in Syria, a country that shelters over a million Iraqi refugees — more Iraqis than any other country. The visit of a high-ranking U.S. official to Syria is considered rare because of the country’s support of anti-Israeli groups like Hezbollah and Hamas.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said Iraqis and Afghans account for more than half of the world’s 11.4 million refugees. UNHCR estimates that of the 4.7 million Iraqis who have left their homes since the Gulf War (1990-1991), two million have fled since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

Advocacy and human rights groups, along with several U.S. senators, have accused the Bush administration of not doing enough for the Iraqis who have fled.

WIDE ANGLE’s film about the Iraqi refugee crisis in Syria and Jordan premieres on August 19. Check your local listings for airtimes, and check back here for updates.

Photo courtesy of Catholic Relief Services.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees estimates that more than 4.7 million Iraqis have left their homes, including 2.7 million displaced internally and 2 million exiled in neighboring countries, primarily in Syria and Jordan. While many Iraqis were displaced prior to the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, the largest number has fled in the last five years.

Advocacy groups and lawmakers have criticized the U.S. government for doing little to admit Iraqi refugees in the aftermath of the 2003 invasion. In response, the government opened its first permanent office in Baghdad for Iraqi refugees seeking to settle in the U.S.

Previously, Iraqis had to travel to resettlement offices in Syria, Jordan and Egypt, but the Baghdad refugee processing office, located in the Green Zone, will give Iraqis greater access to file for resettlement in the U.S.

On Tuesday, President Bush also signed a law that would admit 5,000 Iraqis each year for the next five years.

This summer, WIDE ANGLE takes us to Jordan and Syria and into the daily lives of Iraqis caught in the refugee crisis–the biggest in the Middle East since the displacement of Palestinians in 1948.

WIDE ANGLE’s film about the Iraqi refugee crisis in Syria and Jordan premieres on August 19. Check your local listings for airtimes, and check back here for updates.