world: Refugees on the run

Turkey say it's out of room for displaced Syrian in its 14 refugee campsU.N.: Since November, registered refugees region-wide rising by 3,200 a dayRefugee: "I want people to feel our pain. These are Arabs, these are humans."

Bab al-Salama, Syria (CNN) -- It's raining on the camp, and water is seeping into the unheated tents.

Women use long brooms to try to sweep muddy water out from in between their shelters. They stack up foam sleeping pads and roll up blankets, in a vain attempt to keep them from getting soaked. When artillery rumbles in the distance, the camp's residents don't even flinch.

Like so many of the other children here, 9-year-old Mohammed Hoot is wandering around the camp, bored. To keep his head dry, Mohammed wears an oversized leather jacket over his head. Inside a pair of plastic sandals, his feet are bare, unprotected from the puddles and plummeting temperatures.

"We've been living here for a month ... it's too small, it's not big enough for us," the surprisingly vocal little boy says, pointing at the tent where he and nine other family members sleep at night.

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According to the United Nations' admittedly conservative estimates, the conflict has pushed close to 2 million Syrians out of their homes. In other words, roughly one in ten Syrians is now living on the run.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":true,"x":5,"y":1,"pos":1,"title":"Life in a Bab al-Salama refugee camp"}

Syrian refugees at the Bab al Salama Camp in Syria on December 7, 2012.

Many Syrian refugees are waiting permission to cross into Turkey and flee fighting in their home country.

The Turkish government says it no longer has room to house displaced Syrians in the 14 refugee camps it is currently operating on Turkish soil.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":5,"y":1,"pos":7,"title":"Life in a Bab al-Salama refugee camp"}

The UN says some 1.2 million Syrians are displaced inside Syria. cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":5,"y":1,"pos":8,"title":"Life in a Bab al-Salama refugee camp"}

Meanwhile, more than half a million Syrians have registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees after fleeing across borders. cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":5,"y":1,"pos":9,"title":"Life in a Bab al-Salama refugee camp"}

Agency officials estimate there are hundreds of thousands of additional Syrian refugees who have not registered with local authorities in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt.

Syrian refugees at the Bab al Salama Camp in Syria on December 7, 2012.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":5,"y":1,"pos":14,"title":"Life in a Bab al-Salama refugee camp"} Life in a Bab al-Salama refugee campLife in a Bab al-Salama refugee campLife in a Bab al-Salama refugee campLife in a Bab al-Salama refugee campLife in a Bab al-Salama refugee campLife in a Bab al-Salama refugee campLife in a Bab al-Salama refugee campLife in a Bab al-Salama refugee campLife in a Bab al-Salama refugee campLife in a Bab al-Salama refugee campLife in a Bab al-Salama refugee campLife in a Bab al-Salama refugee campLife in a Bab al-Salama refugee camp

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"We want to enter Turkey ... they are not letting us in," says Hoot.

Photos: Life inside refugee camp | Refugees face brutal winter

The Turkish government says it no longer has room to house displaced Syrians in the 14 refugee camps it is currently operating on Turkish soil.

Unsafe in Syria, unwanted in Turkey, these people are living in limbo. They are but a fraction of the legions of Syrians made homeless by the war.

According to the United Nations' admittedly conservative estimates, the conflict has pushed close to two million Syrians out of their homes. In other words, roughly one in 10 Syrians is now living on the run.

The U.N. says some 1.2 million Syrians are displaced inside Syria. Meanwhile, more than half a million Syrians have registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees after fleeing across borders. And there are more coming every day.

"Since the beginning of November, the number of registered refugees region-wide has risen by about 3,200 a day," the UNHCR announced this week.

More: Refugee figures only part of the crisis

Agency officials estimate there are hundreds of thousands of additional Syrian refugees who have not registered with local authorities in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt, because they are surviving off of their savings or the hospitality of friends and relatives. But after more than 20 months of conflict, there are signs that resources for wealthier refugees are running out.

"A lot of the increase is from people who are in neighboring countries but they've run out of everything," said Ron Redmond, a UNHCR spokesman in Beirut.

"Some of them have already been displaced internally for weeks and months moving from place to place and they are now coming out. And some of them are in a weakened state and the cold weather is certainly a danger to them, especially the children," Redmond added.

"And these are people who lived a good life at one time. They had nice homes, they had good apartments, they had cars."

As Syrian refugees go, Ali Moraly knows he is one of the luckier ones.

After he ran away from Syria three months ago, Moraly had enough money and connections to rent a small one-room apartment in Istanbul, where he practices his violin daily.

More: Inside Syria's underground TV channel

"I feel so much ashamed of myself, being in a warm place and having my violin with me and playing music while people have to stand in long queues in order to have something to eat," he says.

Syrians line up outside a bakery offering cheap bread in Aleppo, Syria on Sunday, December 16. Click through to view images of the fighting from December, or see photos of the conflict from November.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":true,"x":22,"y":4,"pos":1,"title":"Showdown in Syria"}

A Syrian boy walks past a rebel fighter in the northern town of Darkush, Syria, on Friday, December 14.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":22,"y":4,"pos":2,"title":"Showdown in Syria"}

Two men on a motorcycle lead a horse through the northern town of Darkush, Syria, on December 14, 2012.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":22,"y":4,"pos":3,"title":"Showdown in Syria"}

Rebel fighters push out a boat carrying two Syrian women fleeing to Turkey through the Orontes River near the northern Syrian town of Darkush on December 14.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":22,"y":4,"pos":4,"title":"Showdown in Syria"}

Passengers gather at a terminal at the airport in Aleppo, Syria, on Wednesday, December 12.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":22,"y":4,"pos":5,"title":"Showdown in Syria"}

A member of the Syrian opposition's Al-Buraq Brigade stands guard on a main road in the northern Syrian town of Ain Dakna near the Turkish border on Monday, December 10. Click through to view images of the fighting from December, or see photos of the conflict from November.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":22,"y":4,"pos":6,"title":"Showdown in Syria"}

A Free Syrian Army fighter takes position as he aims his weapon in Aleppo's al-Amereya district on Tuesday, December 11.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":22,"y":4,"pos":7,"title":"Showdown in Syria"}

Men warm themselves by a fire on a street corner in Aleppo, Syria, on Sunday, December 9.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":22,"y":4,"pos":8,"title":"Showdown in Syria"}

A rebel soldier watches Al-Jazeera news in a shop near the front lines in Aleppo on December 9.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":22,"y":4,"pos":9,"title":"Showdown in Syria"}

A rebel soldier prays in a shop in Aleppo on December 9.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":22,"y":4,"pos":10,"title":"Showdown in Syria"}

Syrians mourn a fallen fighter at a rebel base in the al-Fardos area of Aleppo on Saturday, December 8.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":22,"y":4,"pos":11,"title":"Showdown in Syria"}

A Syria rebel commander sits behind a desk in his bombed-out position in Aleppo on December 8.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":22,"y":4,"pos":12,"title":"Showdown in Syria"}

A Syrian rebel fighter emerges from a hole in a wall in Aleppo on December 8.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":22,"y":4,"pos":13,"title":"Showdown in Syria"}

Rebel fighters take part in a demonstration against the Syrian regime after Friday prayers in Aleppo on December 7.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":22,"y":4,"pos":14,"title":"Showdown in Syria"}

A wounded rebel fighter is transported to a hospital in the back of a truck in Aleppo, Syria, on Thursday, December 6. At least 23 people died in Syria on Thursday, most of them in Damascus and Aleppo, according to the opposition Local Coordination Committees of Syria. cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":22,"y":4,"pos":15,"title":"Showdown in Syria"}

Rebel soldiers stand guard inside a building in Aleppo on December 6. cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":22,"y":4,"pos":16,"title":"Showdown in Syria"}

Angelina Jolie, special envoy for the U.N. refugee agency, meets with Syrian refugees at the Zaatari refugee camp outside Mafraq, Jordan, on December 6. cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":22,"y":4,"pos":17,"title":"Showdown in Syria"}

In this handout from the Shaam News Network, Free Syrian Army fighters stand guard against forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the Al-khalidiya neighborhood of Homs on Tuesday, December 4. cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":22,"y":4,"pos":18,"title":"Showdown in Syria"}

In this handout from the Shaam News Network, Free Syrian Army fighters take cover in destroyed buildings during clashes with regime forces on December 4.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":22,"y":4,"pos":19,"title":"Showdown in Syria"}

Syrians cross the border from Ras al-Ain, Syria, to the Turkish border town of Ceylanpinar on Tuesday, December 4. cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":22,"y":4,"pos":20,"title":"Showdown in Syria"}

Boys walk through a damaged area In Aleppo, Syria, seen through a destroyed car on December 4.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":22,"y":4,"pos":21,"title":"Showdown in Syria"}

A man inspects rubble in a neighborhood of Aleppo on Sunday, December 2.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":22,"y":4,"pos":22,"title":"Showdown in Syria"}

The bodies of three children reportedly killed in a mortar shell attack are laid out for relatives to identify at a makeshift hospital in Aleppo on December 2. cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":22,"y":4,"pos":23,"title":"Showdown in Syria"}

Smoke rises from fighting in the Hanano and Bustan al-Basha districts of Aleppo on Saturday, December 1. cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":22,"y":4,"pos":24,"title":"Showdown in Syria"}

Syrian-Kurdish women and members of the Popular Protection Units, an armed opposition group to the Syrian government, stand guard during a comrade's funeral in a northern Syrian border village on December 1.cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList.length] = {"currentPicture":false,"x":22,"y":4,"pos":25,"title":"Showdown in Syria"}

Photos: Showdown in Syria Event.observe(window, 'load', function() {//report the first gallery image to ADBPif(typeof(cnn_adbptrackpgalimg) == 'function' && typeof(cnnArticleGallery) != 'undefined') {cnn_adbptrackpgalimg(cnnArticleGallery.currentImageList[0].image, "");}});Insecurity and a feeling of hopelessness drove him to pack his bags and leave his home and parents in Damascus, possibly forever.

"I used to practice the violin while hearing gunshots just go by my window," Moraly recalls.

Now, this 32-year-old violinist -- who used to perform at the Damascus Opera House -- is one of the faceless millions of Syrians now living on the run.

"The moment when you know that this time, if you just pack and leave, you might not be able to decide the time when you come back ... that itself is a very painful experience," Moraly says.

More: Rebels say endgame in sight

The exiled musician tries remain optimistic about the conflict that is ravaging his homeland.

"If this is a part of a process which will make my country more free and a more promising nation that will have tolerance and social fairness and equality, then this the price that we have to pay," he explains.

Moraly's future is uncertain. He does not know where he will be living several months from now, and he has no idea when he will be reunited with his sister, who fled with her husband and children to the U.S., or with his parents, who remain in Damascus.

Like so many others, Moraly focuses on the present, unable to plan for the future.

"We don't think about the future any more, all we are waiting for is the toppling of the regime," says Adham Ismail, a 24-year-old resident of the camp in Bab al Salama.

He speaks while trimming a defected soldier's hair in the makeshift barber shop he set up in his tent.

He has a message for the international community.

"I want people to feel our pain," says Ismail, who is bundled up in a sweatshirt and coat for warmth. "These are Arabs, these are humans. I just want people to feel for us."

That appeal for empathy is echoed by the lone Syrian violinist now living on the banks of Istanbul's Bosphorus Strait.

"If you look at these people as your brothers in humanity," Moraly says, after completing a mournful rendition of Niccolo Paganini's Caprice No. 6, "then you should know that what is happening to them might happen to you one day."

December 5, 2012 -- Updated 1232 GMT (2032 HKT)

Down a steep stone stairway and into the darkness lies a cold chamber that looks more like a dungeon than a home. CNN's Arwa Damon reports.

Syrian children don't paint flowers and teddy bears, but some of the images they saw in the hometowns they were forced to abandon -- bodies.December 14, 2012 -- Updated 2057 GMT (0457 HKT)

The war has forced hundreds of thousands of people from their homes; the lucky ones have found shelter across the border in crammed camps.December 14, 2012 -- Updated 1215 GMT (2015 HKT)

Half a million have registered as refugees -- but one Red Cross worker says the true figure is far higher as many are scared to register.December 13, 2012 -- Updated 1120 GMT (1920 HKT)

Amid the constant threat of a street battle erupting around the corner, a new underground TV channel has become must-see for residents of Aleppo.December 12, 2012 -- Updated 1044 GMT (1844 HKT)

With the precision of a chef, Sheik Omar adjusts the flame under his pan. He mixes sugar with a noxious chemical to make bombs for opposition.December 5, 2012 -- Updated 1236 GMT (2036 HKT)

Children elbow each other for the last burnt scraps of cracked wheat. Even as fighting subsides in parts of Aleppo, fear and chaos remain.November 28, 2012 -- Updated 0146 GMT (0946 HKT)

Brooke Baldwin talks to Kimberly Brown from Save The Children about violence against Syrian children.November 17, 2012 -- Updated 2305 GMT (0705 HKT)

Syrian fight overflows to Turkish town of Ceylanpinar, where residents deal with explosions, bullets or bombs coming from the Syrian side.November 9, 2012 -- Updated 1223 GMT (2023 HKT)

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad made an ominous threat against foreign intervention, saying it would have a "domino impact" on the world.November 27, 2012 -- Updated 0311 GMT (1111 HKT)

Photojournalist Robert King describes the bombs that fell on a hospital and other fatal attacks he saw in Syria.December 17, 2012 -- Updated 1737 GMT (0137 HKT)

As the conflict drags on, hundreds of thousands of people see their homes and lifes destroyed. See the latest photos from Syria.November 1, 2012 -- Updated 1614 GMT (0014 HKT)

Meet Abdulrahman, an 11-year-old soccer-lover who lost his leg to a Syrian rocket and is now desperately seeking a prosthetic. October 11, 2012 -- Updated 1119 GMT (1919 HKT)

The recent confrontation could ignite regional convulsions as Turkey is sucked into Syria, leading to belated actions from the international community.November 16, 2012 -- Updated 0836 GMT (1636 HKT)