Fighting Rages in Syria’s Last Major Insurgent Stronghold
But at least two medical facilities serving thousands of patients in Idlib were struck in nine attacks on medical centers or medical workers in Idlib
and Eastern Ghouta in the last eight days, Mr. Egeland said.
United Nations relief officials also called on Thursday for an urgent humanitarian pause in fighting around Eastern Ghouta,
the rebel-held Damascus suburb where roughly 400,000 civilians have long been trapped without access to emergency aid.
11, 2018
GENEVA — The United Nations expressed alarm on Thursday about a surge of fighting
and destruction in the Idlib Province of northwestern Syria, the last major area of the country held by insurgents, where assaults by Russian-backed Syrian forces have put tens of thousands of civilians at risk.
The assault on Idlib, including areas near the Turkish border, has forced more than 100,000 people to flee for safety since the start of December,
Jan Egeland, the United Nations adviser on humanitarian affairs in Syria, said after a meeting of a humanitarian task force in Geneva on Thursday.
The appeal came as Mark Lowcock, the United Nations emergency relief coordinator, visited Damascus to press the case for unfettered access by relief agencies to millions of civilians in need of aid
and for the evacuation of civilians who require urgent medical treatment.
A temporary deal struck between the government and rebels in Eastern Ghouta led to the evacuation of 30 critically ill patients between Christmas and New Year’s Day, and international agencies have confirmed
that they are receiving medical care in Damascus hospitals, Mr. Egeland said.
