GENEVA, Switzerland (NBC) – The United Nations said it’s alarmed by the continuing escalation of violence in Syria.
Officials say hundreds of thousands of people are now displaced. Civilians in Idlib cannot find shelter.
Jens Laerke with the OCHA said, “There are no safe places in Idlib. Bombs fall everywhere and anywhere even those fleeing the front line areas are not safe and there is just a sea of people moving in all directions as the airstrikes and shelling has continued throughout the last two months. The biggest challenge right now is shelter. Thousands of people are crammed into schools, mosques and so on. Many are in tents, in the mud exposed to wind, rain and freezing weather.”
The latest Syrian government offensive has been advancing since December into the country’s last rebel stronghold, which spans Idlib province and parts of the nearby Aleppo region.
Jenifer Fenton with the U.S. Special Envoy Office said, “The United Nations Special Envoy for Syria, Mr. Geir O. Pedersen is alarmed by the continued and further escalation of violence in Syria’s northwest. The consequences are devastating. The price that the civilian population is paying is too high. Hundreds of thousands of civilians are now displaced and their numbers continue to swell.”
Turkish troops are deployed in some of those rebel-held areas to monitor an earlier cease-fire that was agreed to but has since collapsed.
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