Syria has long offered an open door to its neighbors in Iraq who want to flee the war. It's the only country to allow Iraqis in without a visa, and more than 1.5 million refugees have taken advantage of that. But the numbers have placed huge burdens on Syria's economy and social structure, so Syria is about to change the policy.
Iraqis will now have to apply for visas at the Syrian embassy in Baghdad. But the embassy is in a violent neighborhood, making it almost impossible to get the necessary permissions, so the new measures effectively shut the last open door.
At the U.N.'s refugee processing center in Damascus — the largest such U.N. operation in the world — many Iraqis arrive straight from the border to register, hoping for protection in the face of uncertain status in Syria. The new policy is a source of anxiety for them, as they face persistent high levels of violence in Iraq.
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