Jolie checks on Syrian refugees in Iraq

Hollywood star Angelina Jolie met Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari on Saturday to discuss measures to care for Syrian refugees in Iraq, the foreign ministry said. They discussed "the situation of Syrian refugees in Iraq and steps taken by the Iraqi government to ensure a decent life for them," the ministry said. Zebari said Iraq was hosting more than 20,000 Syrians who fled the bloodshed in their country. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees says the number of Syrian refugees in neighbouring countries have exceeded 250,000. Jolie, a special UN envoy, will head Sunday to Arbil, the capital of northern Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan, to meet Syrian refugees housed in camps at Dohuk, 400 kilometres (250 miles) from Baghdad. Before travelling to Iraq, Jolie already visited Syrian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey.