Wars Trigger Record Levels of Internal Displacement in Middle East, North Africa, Report Finds

A NEW report finds internal displacement in the Middle East and North Africa has reached unprecedented levels a decade after the so-called Arab Spring triggered a political upheaval across the region.

Over the past decade, the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center reports the number of internally displaced people in the region has more than tripled from 3.5 million to 12.4 million. During the same period, it says 7.8 million refugees and asylum seekers fled to other countries in search of safety.

The manager of the global monitoring and reporting team at IDMC, Vicente Anzellini, says several factors have precipitated this high level of displacement. These include foreign intervention in regional civil conflicts; local conflicts sparked by ethnic, tribal and religious affiliation, instability caused by extremists and jihadist groups, and natural disasters.

Anzellini tells VOA displacement peaked in 2015 when Russia intervened in the conflict in Syria and when Saudi Arabia got