The United Nations said that the number of people displaced in Dara’a province has tripled over the past two days as the Assad regime and Russian air forces have further intensified the bombing campaign in the rebel-held areas in the province.
Mohamed Hawari, spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Jordan, said on Friday that that up to 160,000 people have been displaced in southern Syria.
The UNHCR expects the number to increase overnight, Hawari added. On Monday, the UN put the number of displaced people at 45,000, warning that the lives of more than 750,000 people were at risk.
Earlier this week, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for an immediate end to the “current military escalation” in southern Syria. He also called for respect for obligations under international law and international humanitarian law, including the protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure.
The Syrian Coalition has held several meetings with representatives of friendly countries to draw attention to the situation in southern Syria over the past few days.
Member of the Coalition’s political committee, Yasser al-Farhan, earlier met with members of the team of the UN special envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura and officials of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. He called for serious intervention by the United Nations to stop the Assad regime’s onslaught on Dara’a. He also called for the UN to shoulder its responsibilities and prevent the mass forced displacement of residents of Dara’a province.
Farhan said that the ongoing onslaught against civilians in Dara’a is part of a litany of war crimes being committed by the Assad regime with the help of Russia and Iran.
He stressed that the Assad regime’s capture of new territory will not change the reality of the political process aimed at achieving full political transition in Syria in accordance with the Geneva Communique of 2012 and UN Security Council resolution 2254. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department)
