The United Nations on Thursday called for “life-saving” funding to help six million people in Syria survive winter, after more than 11 years of devastating conflict.
The relief money is “urgently needed to provide vital winter aid,” according to a statement issued by two senior officials from the UN’s humanitarian agency OCHA.
For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
The agency said it had received only 42 percent of its requested relief budget for Syria this year.
“This is the twelfth year of crisis and the twelfth winter of hardship for the Syrian population,” OCHA’s acting coordinator ElMostafa Benlamlih said.
In the statement, Benlamlih along with OCHA’s Syria coordinator, Muhannad Hadi, warned millions of Syrians – including displaced people living in camps – are living under “perilous” conditions and “will not be protected against the severe winter” without assistance.
Amid nationwide electricity rationing and chronic fuel shortages, many families are struggling to keep their homes warm this winter.
The UN officials said they were “particularly concerned about families who cannot afford electricity, to buy warm clothes or heating supplies.”
Syria’s civil war, which has killed nearly half a million people, has fragmented the country and caused economic collapse.
Ninety percent of the population now lives below the poverty line and 12.4 million people are food insecure, according to the UN.
Of the six million people in need of winter assistance, 2.5 million live in Syria’s northwest, in the last major rebel and extremist stronghold of the country.
The majority of the three million people living in these territories are displaced, according to OCHA.
Every winter in this region, heavy rains transform camps for displaced people into muddy swamps.
Flooding and child mortality is common, along with deadly fires started by people burning wood to keep warm and cook inside tents.
Read more:
Syria provides ‘drone lab’ for warring parties: Report
Drone strike kills suspected ISIS member in northern Syria
US President Biden singles out Turkey for undermining fight against ISIS in Syria
Also Read
-
US says American troops ‘directly threatened’ after Turkish air strikes in Syria
“This escalation threatens the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS’s yearslong progress to degrade and defeat ISIS,” a Pentagon official said. Middle East -
Turkish drone strike hits Russian base in northeast Syria: Kurdish official
A Turkish strike hit a Kurdish position inside a Russian base in Syria Wednesday killing a fighter, a Kurdish official said, as Turkey pressed an air ... Middle East -
Erdogan does not rule out dialogue with Syria's Assad
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday that a meeting with Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad is a possibility, after cutting ... Middle East -
Van smuggling 12 Syrian migrants rams into police car in Bulgaria
A van smuggling 12 Syrian migrants crashed into a police car near the Bulgarian capital on Tuesday after the driver fled a police checkpoint, injuring ... World News
