Geneva- the United Nations warned that northwestern Syria is going through a “major protection crisis” with more than 3 million people suffering in the confrontation.
The UN regional humanitarian coordinator Mark Cutts said, “There is a major protection crisis in northwest Syria. That is the fundamental issue” while addressing reporters in Geneva.
He said, “More than 3 million civilians [are] trapped in a war zone in the Idlib area, and the fighting has been forcing them into a smaller and smaller piece of land close to the Turkish border”.
He pointed out that Turkey is already entertaining 3.6 million refugees, while migrants from Idlib flee towards the Turkish border.
He added, “Turkey also supports the cross-border humanitarian operation” while referring to Turkey’s stance on more refugees.
The UN is cooperating with turkey to make sure borders are not closed.
He said “a vital lifeline for the millions of people in northwest Syria”.
He explained “The fighting is now getting ‘dangerously close’ to the area where more than a million are living in tents and makeshift shelters in an “an extremely alarming situation” due to airstrikes and shelling”.
Cutts cautioned if people go on to enter that area “We are no doubt going to see a real bloodbath, a real massacre of civilians in that area”.
He said, more than 400,000 people were forced to leave their houses last year ahead of further intensification beginning in last December.
No less than 900,000 people to flee from their places.
He said, “Since then, the numbers of displaced people are staggering. During the nine years of this war, about 12 million Syrians have been forced to flee their homes”.
Cutts maintained, “In northwest Syria, there are more than two-and-a-half million displaced people altogether, and that includes the 900,000 who fled in the last two months”.
He said “So huge figures and a huge protection crisis. Our biggest concern is the widespread and systematic targeting of densely populated civilian areas”.
He said, all the cities and towns were deserted.
“Huge numbers of hospitals and schools and marketplaces and bakeries and water stations have been hit by airstrikes and shelling in the last few months, And there’s a population now which is terrorized and traumatized and living in fear. People have been fleeing in fear, to the border area”.
Idlib has been declared a de-escalation zone in the agreement between Turkey and Russia in 2018.
The allies have violated the peace terms for multiple times by launching several attacks in the prohibited region.
Turkey calls for a ceasefire, warning to take action if attacks will not stop.–Worldwide News