“The United Nations and its humanitarian partners [on Wednesday] appealed for $1.5 billion to assist civilians affected by the ongoing conflict in Syria over the next six months, including those inside the country as well as those taking refuge beyond its borders,” the U.N. News Centre reports (12/19). “The twin appeals are for $519.6 million to help four million people within Syria and $1 billion to meet the needs of up to one million Syrian refugees in five other countries until July 2013,” Reuters writes (Nebehay/Charbonneau, 12/19). “Collectively they comprise the largest short-term humanitarian appeal ever,” a U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs press release states (12/19).

“At least 1.5 million people, possibly as many as 2.2 million, are internally displaced and that figure is growing daily,” the Guardian notes (Chulov, 12/19). “At least 525,000 Syrians have registered or are being assisted as refugees, seven times as many as in May, according to the U.N. refugee agency,” the Los Angeles Times writes (Alpert, 12/19). And the U.N. “predicted that the number of refugees would double to more than one million in the next six months,” the New York Times adds (Cumming-Bruce/Gladstone, 12/19).