UNITED NATIONS, July 16 (Xinhua) -- Nearly 1.8 million Syrians have fled into neighboring countries -- nearly two-thirds this year alone -- at almost 6,000 people a day, "a frightening rate" not seen since the Rwandan genocide of nearly 20 years ago, the UN Security Council heard on Tuesday.

"Quite a number of council members made reference to the statement by the permanent representative of Lebanon (Ambassador Nawaf Salam) that the refugee flows in his country are sort of equal to having 75 million refugees come to the United States," said U.S. Ambassador Rosemary DiCarlo, president of the council for July.

"It struck me certainly when he made that comment as well the kind of situation his country is dealing with," she added.

Lebanon, with a population of just over 4 million people, has received more than 600,000 registered refugees, UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Antonio Guterres said.

However, Salam told the council, "The Lebanese General Security directorate puts the number of Syrians in Lebanon at 1.2 million" people. The discrepancy with the UNHCR figure is because so many Syrians fail to register as refugees because "they did not feel the need to register as 'refugees' or were unwilling and/or afraid to do so for political or sectarian reasons."

He also said there were "illegal entrants" numbering 200,000- 300,000, Syrian workers who traditionally are in Lebanon and whose family members "were joining them as the situation was worsening within Syria."

"I reiterate my call to all states, in the region and further afield, to keep borders open and receive all Syrians who seek protection," Guterres told the panel of 15 by video conference from Geneva in appealing for states to keep their borders open.

Lebanon is the only state in the region to leave its borders open, the high commissioner said.

To further underscore Lebanon's plight, British Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant said that by the end of this year Syrian refugees in Lebanon would amount to 25 percent of the population.

"Resettlement and humanitarian admission opportunities can complement this as useful, even if limited, measures of burden- sharing," he added.

Guterres said access to safety in the region was becoming more difficult for people trying to flee.

Almost 1.8 million Syrian refugees are known to UNHCR in Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Iraq and Egypt, he said.

"Two-thirds of them have fled Syria since the beginning of this year, an average of over 6,000 people a day," the high commissioner said. "We have not seen a refugee outflow escalate at such a frightening rate since the Rwandan genocide almost 20 years ago." Guterres said.

Under-Secretary-General Valerie Amos, the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, reiterated to the council appeals for humanitarian aid, calling on nations to fulfill their pledges.

She called it a "regional crisis -- not a crisis in Syria with regional consequences."

"The security, economic, political, social, development and humanitarian consequences of this crisis are extremely grave and its human impact immeasurable in terms of the long term trauma and emotional impact on this and future generations of Syrians," Amos said.

"Family and community networks destroyed; Syria's reputation for secularism and tolerance eroded, with sectarianism on the rise and the long term consequences of internal displacement and significant refugee flows unknown," Amos listed as effects of the crisis. "We are not only watching the destruction of a country but also of its people."