BEIRUT imposed unprecedented restrictions on the entry of Syrians into Lebanon today as it struggled to cope with over a million refugees fleeing Syria’s civil war.

The conflict has displaced nearly half its pre-war population, sending over three million people across the borders — mainly to Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan and Iraq. 

Western countries have only accepted small numbers of refugees, while hundreds of people have drowned attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea on people-traffickers’ rickety ships.

Lebanese officials say they simply cannot absorb any more, estimating that there were already about 1.5 million Syrians in Lebanon, roughly a quarter of the total population. 

The UN refugee agency has registered 1.1 million Syrian refugees.

“We have enough. There’s no capacity any more to host more displaced people,” said Interior Minister Machnouk Nohad.

Syrian Ambassador Ali Abdel-Karim had called on Beirut at the weekend to “co-ordinate” its new measures with the Assad administration in Damascus.