The UN Under-Secretary for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, said that “the devastation that Syria has witnessed is unparalleled in contemporary history.”
“More than 350,000 people have been killed and some 14 million have been displaced from their homes. Basic services have been destroyed. Five million children born since the beginning of the conflict have known nothing but hardship. These are staggering numbers,” Griffiths added.
He stressed that “civilians are still being killed and injured in several areas.” And last February alone, 18 civilians were killed in northwest Syria, according to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
The Undersecretary for Humanitarian Affairs expressed “concern over the deteriorating security situation in Al-Hol camp, which hosts regarding 56,000 people,” noting “the continuation of incidents that cause deaths and injuries, including among children.”
Griffith’s words came during Security Council sessionOn Thursday, it was held to discuss the political, humanitarian and security situation in Syria, coinciding with the eleventh anniversary of the Syrian war.
The Council also heard briefings from the United Nations Special Envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, who stressed that “no group in Syria can determine the outcome of this conflict,” describing the military solution as an “illusion.”
Millions need help
According to Griffiths, “14.6 million people need humanitarian assistance, a number higher than at any time since the beginning of the conflict,” stressing that “the deteriorating economic crisis exacerbates the need to meet humanitarian needs.”
12 million people in Syria are food insecure and at risk of a further deterioration of the humanitarian situation.
The exchange rate of the Syrian pound once morest the dollar reached record low levels, reducing its purchasing power, according to the United Nations.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was able to tip the scales of the Syrian civil war, which began with pro-democracy protests in 2011, with the help of Iranian armed groups and a major military intervention from Moscow in 2015.
And last Friday, Assad visited the UAE on his first visit to an Arab country since the Syrian war, which sparked sharp criticism from Washington, with the State Department declaring that it was “very disappointed and concerned” regarding what it described as an apparent attempt to legitimize Assad.
