The United States will accept between 5,000 and 8,000 refugees from Syria in 2016, according to the US State Department.

�What we're really committed to is helping to foster the kind of political transition inside Syria, so that it is a safe environment for Syrian people to return, including the millions that are seeking refuge in Turkey right now," State Department spokesman John Kirby said on Monday.

Kirby also said that 15,000 Syrian refugees had been referred to the US so far to be resettled by the UN refugee agency.

According to US officials, Washington received 9,000 referrals from the UN before December, 2014.

Officials previously said that between 1,000 and 2,000 Syrian refugees would be accepted in fiscal year 2015, and that the number would increase in fiscal year 2016.

Kirby noted that the US was a "leader" in efforts to accept refugees and financially help them with resettling.

However, Washington has been under criticism for not taking more of the estimated four million refugees fleeing the war-torn country since 2011.

The US has so far contributed $4 billion in humanitarian aid to the people affected by the Syrian unrest.

Syria has been facing a massive foreign-sponsored militancy for the past four years. The conflict has reportedly killed an estimated 230,000 people.

The violence has also forced over 3.8 million Syrians to take refuge in neighboring countries, including Jordan and Lebanon. More than 7.2 million others have been displaced within Syria, according to the United Nations.

By Press TV