It is a good question (why the Syrians don't logically go to the rich countries in their own region). The fact that they don't (and that those rich countries won't let them) highlights the primary political-religious-cultural fracture in the Middle East, the line separating allies and foes of the Western empire. The division is, more or less, like this:
Allies: Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan, and Israel
Foes: Iran, Hezbollah (Lebanon), and Syria
Iraq, Turkey, Egypt, Lebanon, and Yemen remain 'open', to one degree or another. They comply with the empire's wishes, but they also demonstrate desire to break free from it.
Being an ally of the empire in the Middle East means you have most or all of the following properties: a lot of wealth, usually from oil and gas; a lot of weapons and other military support from the West; a hypocritical Sunni Muslim elite, which imposes extreme right-wing fundamentalist Wahhabism (literal/schizoidal interpretation of the Koran) on its population, while engorging themselves in lifestyles of luxury. These countries produce the kinds of Muslims (and Jews) the Western elite LOVE (head-chopping, baby-killing, woman-hating, flat earth-believing nut-jobs).
To ordinary Syrians, who are used to living in one of the most progressive countries in the region, where religious intolerance wasn't tolerated, where social services were available to all, and where their elite informed them about the true nature of the Western empire and its Middle Eastern allies, seeking refuge in one of those allied countries would be extremely unappealing. They know full well that the hell unleashed on their country over the last 4 years comes to them via those countries, so they know that if they try to go there, they will probably be bombed from the sky, like Yemenis are experiencing right now.
So that's the story from the point of view of Syrian refugees' motivations.
Then there's the question as to whether or not they're being encouraged (from above) to go to Europe. We discussed this in some detail on last night's Behind the Headlines radio show: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/sottradionetwork/2015/09/06/behind-the-headlines-europes-refugee-crisis-and-the-coming-chaos
Allies: Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan, and Israel
Foes: Iran, Hezbollah (Lebanon), and Syria
Iraq, Turkey, Egypt, Lebanon, and Yemen remain 'open', to one degree or another. They comply with the empire's wishes, but they also demonstrate desire to break free from it.
Being an ally of the empire in the Middle East means you have most or all of the following properties: a lot of wealth, usually from oil and gas; a lot of weapons and other military support from the West; a hypocritical Sunni Muslim elite, which imposes extreme right-wing fundamentalist Wahhabism (literal/schizoidal interpretation of the Koran) on its population, while engorging themselves in lifestyles of luxury. These countries produce the kinds of Muslims (and Jews) the Western elite LOVE (head-chopping, baby-killing, woman-hating, flat earth-believing nut-jobs).
To ordinary Syrians, who are used to living in one of the most progressive countries in the region, where religious intolerance wasn't tolerated, where social services were available to all, and where their elite informed them about the true nature of the Western empire and its Middle Eastern allies, seeking refuge in one of those allied countries would be extremely unappealing. They know full well that the hell unleashed on their country over the last 4 years comes to them via those countries, so they know that if they try to go there, they will probably be bombed from the sky, like Yemenis are experiencing right now.
So that's the story from the point of view of Syrian refugees' motivations.
Then there's the question as to whether or not they're being encouraged (from above) to go to Europe. We discussed this in some detail on last night's Behind the Headlines radio show: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/sottradionetwork/2015/09/06/behind-the-headlines-europes-refugee-crisis-and-the-coming-chaos