Over 8.8 lakh displaced since latest escalation of hostilities in Syria: UN

More than 8.8 lakh people have been displaced since the latest escalation of hostilities in Syria as per the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). It said over 40 thousand displaced people are staying in around 250 collective centres across northeast Syria. Authorities also reported a complicated flow of displaced people across the Lebanon-Syria border.

     

As per the media reports UN partners have estimated that around six per cent of the displaced are living with at least one form of disability.

      

The International Organisation for Migration reported a fluid situation with fluctuating movements continuing daily



through both formal and informal border crossings. Humanitarians reported earlier that Syrian border officials abandoned their posts following the Damascus takeover.

      

OCHA said the United Nations and partners continue to support the response by supplying food, water, cash, tents, and blankets. The world body is also deploying medical teams and supplies.        

      

Yesterday, Tom Fletcher, UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, met Syrian transitional authorities in Damascus to discuss the relief response.