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70,000 Syrians flee as regime forces advance on last rebel-held province
Source: The Guardian
70,000 Syrians flee as regime forces advance on last rebel-held province
Warning of humanitarian catastrophe in Idlib as displaced people seek refuge near Turkish border and hospitals are ‘systematically’ targeted
Kareem Shaheen in Istanbul
Tue 9 Jan ‘18 12.31 GMT
Tens of thousands of people have fled a Syrian government assault on Idlib, the country’s last rebel-held province, prompting warnings of a humanitarian catastrophe.
The regime advance comes amid what a senior aid worker described as a “systematic” attack on hospitals in the region. Eight have been hit between the end of December and the beginning of January. One such attack in the town of Maarat al-Numan on 3 January killed a baby girl who was just two hours old and her father. Two nurses and a doctor were wounded.
“The major goals are to deprive people of healthcare, kill opposition medical workers and push people to flee,” said Ahmad al-Dbis, safety and security director for the Union of Medical Care and Relief Organisations (UOSSM), which runs dozens of hospitals in Syria. “The medical situation is a tragedy.”
According to UN figures, more than 70,000 people have fled their homes and moved further into Idlib in recent weeks to escape the latest wave of violence to grip Syria, seven years into a civil war that has killed half a million people. There are already an estimated 1.1 million internally displaced people in the province who have fled from other parts of Syria, or were allowed safe passage there after rebel groups surrendered.
-snip-
Warning of humanitarian catastrophe in Idlib as displaced people seek refuge near Turkish border and hospitals are ‘systematically’ targeted
Kareem Shaheen in Istanbul
Tue 9 Jan ‘18 12.31 GMT
Tens of thousands of people have fled a Syrian government assault on Idlib, the country’s last rebel-held province, prompting warnings of a humanitarian catastrophe.
The regime advance comes amid what a senior aid worker described as a “systematic” attack on hospitals in the region. Eight have been hit between the end of December and the beginning of January. One such attack in the town of Maarat al-Numan on 3 January killed a baby girl who was just two hours old and her father. Two nurses and a doctor were wounded.
“The major goals are to deprive people of healthcare, kill opposition medical workers and push people to flee,” said Ahmad al-Dbis, safety and security director for the Union of Medical Care and Relief Organisations (UOSSM), which runs dozens of hospitals in Syria. “The medical situation is a tragedy.”
According to UN figures, more than 70,000 people have fled their homes and moved further into Idlib in recent weeks to escape the latest wave of violence to grip Syria, seven years into a civil war that has killed half a million people. There are already an estimated 1.1 million internally displaced people in the province who have fled from other parts of Syria, or were allowed safe passage there after rebel groups surrendered.
-snip-
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jan/09/syrian-forces-advance-on-countrys-last-rebel-held-province
