Senior UN official outlines rising humanitarian needs in Syria

UNITED NATIONS - The top UN official for humanitarian affairs said Friday that aid continued to reach millions of people across Syria, but needs in the southwest, the northwest and Raqqa kept going up.

"Humanitarian organizations continue to reach millions of people across Syria. More than 3 million people received food last month alone. But needs in many areas have continued to grow, in particular in the south-west and north-west, as well as in Raqqa," Mark Lowcock, UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, told the Security Council.

With regard to the southwest, Lowcock said the UN and its partners have mobilized a response that was reaching tens of thousands of people there, but some 110,000 newly displaced remained in Quneitra in areas largely cut off from aid.

"The response now needs to be urgently scaled up across the southwest, and in Quneitra in particular," he said.

On eastern Ghouta, he said its humanitarian needs remained high, though some reports said markets were beginning to function again. "Close to 10,000 people from eastern Ghouta, mostly men between the ages of 15 and 65, are reported to remain in displacement sites across rural Damascus."

Moving up north, Lowcock said since November 2017, the total number of people in need of aid in Aleppo and Idlib governorates has increased by close to 600,000, to a total of 4.2 million, and of these people, half are in acute need.

Returns to Raqqa city have continued despite risks due to high levels of explosive hazard contamination, he said, adding that humanitarian demining in Raqqa city and Deir-ez-Zor remained a key priority alongside ongoing efforts to scale up broader humanitarian assistance.

Concluding his briefing, the under-secretary-general noted the UN appeal for Syria this year was still substantially underfunded and emphasized the need for safe, unimpeded and sustained access for humanitarian assistance.