The UN reiterated its warning that the lives of around three million people in northwestern Syria, many of them are women and children, are at dire risk because of the offensive the Assad regime and Russia launched in the region.
”The Secretary-General said that he is deeply troubled by the continued escalation in north-west Syria and the prospect of an offensive deeper into Idlib, which could trigger a new wave of human suffering possibly impacting more than 3 million people,” Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, told a press conference late Wednesday.
Guterres strongly condemned ongoing attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure, including healthcare and educational facilities.
”And between 1 May and 18 August of this year, 576,000 movements by displaced people have been recorded in the north‑west of the country,” Dujarric said.
”The Secretary-General reiterates his urgent call for the September 2018 Memorandum of Understanding on Idlib to be upheld,” Dujarric added, referring to a cease-fire deal reached between Turkey and Russia.
A UN official said they had received disturbing reports of increasing displacement in the area, while local activists pointed out that the humanitarian situation in the area is tragic, with people sleeping in vehicles or spending the nights out in the open.
Meanwhile, head of the Turkish Red Crescent Society, Kerem Kinik, warned against the repetition of the Aleppo scenario in Idlib, pointing to the impossibility of absorbing around three million of displaced people in camps near the border.
Kinik added that the Assad regime continues to target civilians in Idlib, causing chaos and a new waves of displacement towards the country’s northwest. (Source: Syrian National Coalition’s Media Department + Agencies)
