Tens of thousands flee renewed Syria violence
Tens of thousands of civilians are fleeing bombardment in Syria’s Idlib region, the UN said, as fighting flares in the jihadist bastion fuelling an already dire humanitarian situation.
Meanwhile, Russia and China used their vetoes Friday to block a UN Security Council resolution that would have extended for a year cross-border humanitarian aid to four million Syrians.
The Idlib region, which is home to some three million people including many displaced by Syria’s civil war, is controlled by the country’s former al-Qaeda affiliate, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. The Damascus regime has repeatedly vowed to take back control of it.
There has been an uptick in violence in Idlib since Monday and, despite UN calls for a de-escalation, major clashes between Syrian regime forces and armed groups has flared in the past 24 hours, killing more than 80 people on both sides, a war monitor said Friday.
The fighting raged around the jihadist-held town of Maaret al-Numan in southern Idlib, said the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
It came as warplanes from Syrian regime ally Russia pounded areas around Maaret al-Numan and the nearby town of Saraqeb with a series of air strikes, it added.
The UN humanitarian agency OCHA said tens of thousands of civilians have fled southern Idlib since Monday and headed north for safety, while thousands more were waiting for the violence to abate to leave.
The UN agency said a shortage of fuel for private vehicles is limiting the movement of civilians while roads leading out of the town are “extremely dangerous” as they are reportedly being hit by air strikes.
“Since the evening of 19 December, residents of Maaret al-Numan town... began to communicate to the humanitarian community that they wanted to move to safety, but were unable to move due to the heavy aerial bombardment,” the UN agency said.
The UN agency said the displacement of civilians was straining an already dire humanitarian situation, specially because it is happening during the winter. OCHA said that some of the displaced who moved north had not eaten in days.
Humanitarian aid currently flows into Syria through UN-designated checkpoints without the formal permission of the regime in Damascus, but that authority is due to expire on January 10.
On Friday, Germany, Belgium and Kuwait presented a resolution extending that authority for a year, winning the support of 13 council members but drawing the vetoes of Russia and China.
A competing Russian resolution that would have granted a six-month extension while reducing the number of UN crossing points was rejected, having failed to get the minimum nine votes.
Russia is a close ally and major supporter of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and has used its veto 14 times on Syrian issues since the start of the civil war there in 2011.
Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations, Vassily Nebenzia, said the latest resolution was “obsolete” because the authorities in Damascus have “retaken control of most” of Syria’s territory.
But the UN humanitarian relief department says the aid remains crucial as the situation on the ground has deteriorated over the past year and Syria is heading into winter.
Four million Syrians directly benefit from the cross-border aid shipments while 11 million benefit from international aid after eight years of war.
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