UN relife chief deeply anxious for safety, protection of Syrian civilians

The UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Stephen O'Brien said here Thursday that the last months have been "some of the worst yet" for civilians inside Syria, where hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and millions more injured over the past six years of fighting in the war-torn Middle East country.

O'Brien said he was deeply anxious for the safety and protection of more than 400,000 civilians due to ongoing military operations in Raqqa governorate.

"We continue to receive reports that fighting and airstrikes continue to result in death and injury of scores of civilians and damage to civilian infrastructure, including schools, bakeries, markets and water infrastructure," said O'Brien, who is also the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator.

He said he remains extremely concerned about the deteriorating security and humanitarian situation in the besieged parts of eastern Ghouta in Rural Damascus, where some 400,000 people are trapped by government forces.

According to the World Health Organization, all three public hospitals and 17 public health care centres in eastern Ghouta are non-functioning and inaccessible to the population.

Meanwhile, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said on Thursday that the number of men, women and children fleeing six years of war in Syria has passed the five-million mark and the international community needs to do more to help them.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said that "to meet the resettlement challenge, we not only need additional places, but also need to accelerate the implementation of existing pledges." Enditem