DUBAI // More than 100,000 Syrians have come to the UAE and been given residency visas since the uprising against Bashar Al Assad began in 2011.

There are now more than 242,000 Syrians in the country, the Government said on Wednesday.

Since 2012 the UAE has also spent about Dh2 billion on humanitarian aid and development assistance in response to the Syrian crisis.

“The UAE has made it one of its foreign policy priorities to address this issue in a sustainable and humane fashion together with its regional and international partners,” the Government said.

Part of the aid funds Mrajeeb Al Fhood refugee camp in Jordan, which is sheltering more than 4,000 Syrian refugees.

The new figures were released as the plight of Syrian refugees continued to dominate the international agenda, with particular pressure on European governments in what has been called the worst migration crisis since the Second World War.

More than 380,000 migrants have arrived in Europe by sea this year, about 260,000 in Greece and 121,000 in Italy, the United Nations says. About 85 per cent of them have fled war in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.

From southern Europe the migrants have made their way north and west, seeking permanent refuge mainly in Germany and the UK.

The European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker on Wednesday urged EU member countries to open their doors immediately to a total of 160,000 refugees, to ease the pressure on border states.

“Now is not the time to take fright, it is time for bold, determined action for the European Union,” Mr Juncker said.

* With reporting by Associated Press and Agence France-Presse