SHAFAQNA – United Nations says number of displaced in south-west Syria has reached 270,000. The number of people forced to flee their homes as a result of the two week escalation in fighting .The world is facing a real humanitarian crisis in southern Syria.
Acording to BBC, At least 270,000 people have fled their homes in south-western Syria since the military launched an assault on rebel-held areas two weeks ago, the UN says.
Many of those displaced by the fighting in Daraa and Quneitra provinces have headed towards the borders with Jordan and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
The UN has warned of a humanitarian catastrophe in the south-west caused by the fighting that erupted after a Russian-backed army offensive to recapture rebel-held southern Syria , ABC reported.
Up to 70,000 of the displaced are reportedly gathered near the closed Nassib border crossing with Jordan, where many families are being forced to live in makeshift shelters or out in the open, with limited access to food or water.
Jordan has kept its border closed and said it will not take in any more refugees, while Israel has said it will not allow Syrians to cross into its territory.
According to The Defense Post, Jordan and Israel have both said they will not open their borders to refugees, but are providing humanitarian aid.
After meeting UN officials on Monday, Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi told reporters that it had been delivering tents and medical supplies to crossings with Syria, but that there had been issues getting it across the border to those in need. UN officials estimated only six days ago that up to 50,000 people had fled their homes in rebel-held towns and villages in response to the government’s intense air and artillery strikes. By Monday, the figure was more than five times higher.
More than 130 civilians have been killed since hostilities escalated, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitoring group.
It is unclear how many people have been killed by Russian and Syrian air strikes since the operation began.
Daraa and Quneitra had been relatively calm for almost a year because of a “de-escalation” agreement brokered by the US and Jordan, which support the opposition, and Russia, a staunch ally of the government.
“We lost our children, our houses, our places to take shelter,” one woman at a camp told AFP news agency on Sunday. “We are sitting on the ground. We have no water to wash our hands. We have no water to drink, no food to eat.”
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Raad Al Hussein has warned of a humanitarian catastrophe in Daraa and urged neighbouring countries to provide safe passage to those wishing to flee the violence.