At least 45,000 people have fled their homes in Dara’a province, heading towards the border with Jordan to escape the escalating onslaught by the Assad regime and its allies in the region, the United Nations said on Tuesday.
In a press conference held in New York, Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said that the UN is “deeply concerned” about the safety of an estimated 750,000 people in southern Syria amid an unraveling cease-fire.
Dozens of people have been killed and wounded in Dara’a since the beginning of the ferocious onslaught the Assad regime and Russian forces launched in the rebel-held areas in the province. Local activists said that rebel-held towns and villages of Dara’a province have been subjected to “brutal bombardment,” a tactic that the Assad regime used in all previous cases of mass forced displacement.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres earlier 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.
In a statement on Friday, the UN chief said he was “gravely concerned by the recent military escalation, including ground offensives and aerial bombardments, in southwestern Syria.”
“The attacks have resulted in the displacement of thousands of civilians, the majority of whom are moving towards the Jordanian border, Guterres said. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department)
