World leaders focus on refugees as Syria truce under threat  

UNITED NATIONS: A summit to address the biggest refugee crisis since World War II opens at the United Nations on Monday, overshadowed by the ongoing war in Syria and faltering US-Russian efforts to halt the fighting.

World leaders will adopt a political declaration at the first-ever summit on refugees and migrants that human rights groups have already dismissed as falling short of the needed international response.

Amnesty International has labeled the summit a “missed opportunity” to come up with a global plan while Human Rights Watch has called out countries like Brazil, Japan and South Korea that have taken in a only handful of refugees, or no refugees at all, in the case of Russia.

A record-breaking 65 million people are on the move worldwide, fleeing wars such as the carnage in Syria, repression and poverty, including 21 million refugees competing for too few resettlement opportunities.

Now in its sixth year, the war in Syria has driven nearly nine million people from their homes while an additional four million have fled to neighboring countries or are making the perilous journey to Europe.

The summit kicks off a week of high-level diplomacy as world leaders are set to address the annual General Assembly meeting, which this year will be dominated by the conflict in Syria.

A ceasefire deal brokered by Russia and the United States was under threat after rebel-held Aleppo came under renewed attack while the US-led coalition killed dozens of Syrian soldiers in a strike that Washington says was unintentional.