The brief lull in fighting in north-west Syria — in the wake of February’s devastating earthquakes — is giving way to a creeping rise in shelling exchanges, rocket fire and cross-line raids by terrorist groups, senior United Nations officials warned the Security Council today, while describing “astounding” physical destruction and massive humanitarian needs on the ground.
Geir O. Pedersen, United Nations Special Envoy for Syria, welcomed the growing international attention to the crisis in the country, declaring: “It is absolutely vital to continue to provide resources to support the emergency response to the earthquakes, while also continuing to support the broader humanitarian response.” Noting the immense suffering arising from the earthquake and the ongoing conflict, he said the earthquake response requires a sustained calm, as was seen in the weeks following the natural disaster. “For brief moments, the unimaginable became real — parties on each side of the front line largely refraining from hostilities,” he said.
Since then, however, he noted a creeping rise in hostilities, including air strikes on Aleppo International Airport — attributed to Israel — which resulted in damage and impacted humanitarian operations. Emphasizing the need to avert a broader escalation “at all costs”, he said sustained calm will also be an essential ingredient of donor confidence as they consider supporting rehabilitation and recovery efforts. Meanwhile, the recent agreement to reopen previously closed border crossings to humanitarian aid delivery — as well as new openings in sanctions regimes — shows that the parties can make constructive moves. “I sense, from all the discussions I have had, that there is an opportunity to move forward with additional moves on all sides, beyond the immediate emergency,” he said.
Tareq Talahma, Acting Director of the Operations and Advocacy Division of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said more than 56,000 people are now recorded to have died in the earthquakes that struck Türkiye and Syria in February. Thousands of survivors continue to seek treatment for physical injury and trauma, while the physical destruction has also been astounding. The United Nations has provided some 2.2 million people with food and cash transfers, carried out more than 1.1 million medical consultations and provided water and sanitation services to almost 380,000 people. It also continues to conduct daily missions in earthquake-affected areas, delivering assistance, assessing the structural integrity of buildings and identifying protection requirements.
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