The worsening humanitarian situation in the northwestern Syrian province of Idlib has forced at least 300,000 civilians to leave their homes since mid-December, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said on Tuesday
GENEVA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th January, 2020) The worsening humanitarian situation in the northwestern Syrian province of Idlib has forced at least 300,000 civilians to leave their homes since mid-December, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said on Tuesday.
"At least 300,000 civilians have fled their homes in southern Idleb since mid-December, following a sharp escalation in hostilities," OCHA's Deputy Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Syria Crisis Mark Cutts said in a statement, adding that over three million civilians remain trapped in the war zone, the vast majority of them being women and children.
The UN official noted that those displaced were facing health risks amid cold winter temperatures. He also said that the total number of people who had been displaced by fighting in Idlib in the last eight months had reached 700,000.
Idlib remains the last militant stronghold in Syria. Damascus launched a new operation to regain control over the province in November. In August, the Syrian government conducted the first operation in Idlib, during which it seized parts of Hama and Idlib provinces that had been controlled by militants since 2014, including the strategic city of Khan Sheikhoun, and also gained access to the M5 highway linking Damascus and Aleppo.
