Rising violence raises humanitarian alarms in Syria

BEIRUT — U.N. officials and dozens of international aid groups warned that humanitarian conditions in Syria’s northwest have reached a new “crisis point,” as government troops push to retake the rebels’ last stronghold.

The recent violence has effectively shattered a cease-fire negotiated by Russia and Turkey, in place since September. Russia has firmly backed President Bashar Assad’s government in the eight-year civil war, while Turkey has supported rebel factions.

In their appeal, some 70 aid groups called for an immediate end to the fighting. They said the violence has displaced an estimated 180,000 people in the last two weeks alone. The rebel enclave, which stretches between northern Hama and most of Idlib provinces, is home to 3 million people.

The violence has forced at least 16 humanitarian organizations to suspend operations in the region, the groups added. The staff were displaced themselves or the facilities came under attack.

In New York, the U.N. humanitarian chief said his worst fears that a full-scale military onslaught in northwestern Syria would “unleash a humanitarian nightmare unlike any we have seen” in Syria are coming true.

Mark Lowcock told the Security Council that violence in the last three weeks killed up to 160 people, displaced at least 180,000 and left millions “crammed into an ever smaller area.” The aid groups said at least 15 health facilities were reported to have been significantly damaged or destroyed.

Sarah El Deeb is an Associated Press writer.