UN, Aid Groups Say Conditions In Syria's Idlib At Crisis Point
11 June 2019Various Agencies
A U.N. official and dozens of international aid groups warned Friday that
humanitarian conditions in northwest Syria's Idlib have reached a new "crisis
point," as Assad regime troops push to retake the opposition's last
stronghold.
The violence endangers a cease-fire negotiated by Russia and Turkey, in place
since September. Russia has firmly backed Bashar Assad's regime in the
eight-year civil war, while Turkey has supported opposition factions.
In their appeal issued Friday, some 70 aid groups called for an immediate end
to the fighting. They said that the violence has displaced an estimated
180,000 people in the last two weeks alone. The opposition enclave, which
stretches between northern Hama and most of Idlib provinces, is home to 3
million people.
The violence has forced at least 16 humanitarian organizations to suspend
their operations in the region, the groups added. The staff were either
displaced themselves or the facilities came under attack.
In New York, the U.N. humanitarian chief said his worst fears that a
full-scale military onslaught in northwestern Syria would "unleash a
humanitarian nightmare unlike any we have seen" in Syria are now coming true.
Mark Lowcock told a Security Council meeting that escalating violence in the
last three weeks in the de-escalation zone in opposition-held Idlib killed up
to 160 people, displaced at least 180,000 and left millions "crammed into an
ever smaller area."
U.N. political chief Rosemary DiCarlo warned that "if the escalation continues
and the offensive pushes forward, we risk catastrophic humanitarian fallout
and threats to international peace and security."
She reiterated the U.N.'s call for an urgent de-escalation of violence and
urged Turkey and Russia to re-establish a cease-fire in northwest Syria.
Physicians for Human Rights said it has verified that over the last four weeks
Assad regime forces and their Russian allies have carried out nine attacks on
hospitals and medical facilities.
The aid groups said that at least 15 health facilities and 16 schools were
reported to have been significantly damaged or destroyed. At least two health
workers were killed.
The groups said at least four clearly identified humanitarian posts were
targeted, condemning the "failure" to observe international law.
In a statement, Amnesty International called on the U.N. Security Council,
meeting Friday, to pressure Russia over the "deliberate" targeting of health
and education facilities and ending the "onslaught" against civilians.
"Bombing hospitals carrying out their medical functions is a war crime," said
Lynn Maalouf, Amnesty International's director of research for the Middle
East. Maalouf said it was part of a "well-established" pattern by the Assad
regime and its allies.
"The international community has so far utterly failed to protect civilians in
Syria from the horrors of this conflict," she said.
Staff from four hospitals in Idlib and Hama told Amnesty International that
they had been targeted despite sharing their coordinates with the Assad regime
and Russian government.
In fighting Friday, activists and opposition members said regime forces
attempted to push into a new village in western Hama but were repelled.
10 civilians killed, 30 others injured by rocket strike on Syria refugee camp:
UN
At least 10 civilians were killed and 30 wounded in Syria by a rocket strike
on the Neirab camp for Palestinian refugees close to the city of Aleppo on
Tuesday night, the United Nations said in a statement on Thursday.
"As families gathered to break their fasts for the Ramadan Iftar meal, several
rockets hit the densely populated Neirab camp for Palestine refugees in
Aleppo," the statement from the U.N. humanitarian aid agency UNRWA said.
"Among those killed were four children, the youngest just six years old. A
number of the injured remain in critical condition."
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