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Syria: UN concerned about safety of Raqqa’s civilians

June 7, 2017 at 11:50 am

Civilians living around Raqqa flee to opposition controlled safe zones due to clashes between Daesh and PYD/ PKK militants on 26 May 2017 [Hüseyin Nasır/Anadolu Agency]

The United Nation has expressed its deep concern about the safety of 400,000 civilians who are exposed to daily airstrikes in the Daesh-controlled Raqqa governorate in Syria.

In a press briefing held yesterday, an official representing the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) told reporters that the humanitarian situation in Raqqa is “dire”.

“The humanitarian situation in Al-Raqqa governorate remains dire, with the majority of the population reportedly facing critical problems in meeting their immediate needs,” said Alessandra Vellucci, director of the UN Nations Information Service in Geneva on behalf of OCHA.

87,200

    People have been displaced from Raqqa since 1 May

She also addressed the issue of the internally displaced people (IDPs) in Raqqa, noting that 87,200 residents have been displaced in the governorate since 1 May. Nearly 37,000 people have been displaced in Aleppo, over 33,400 in Idlib, and smaller numbers in Hama, Deir ez-Zor and Homs, bringing the total number of IDPs to 160,000 across the war-torn country.

According to the UN News Centre’s website, Vellucci “reiterated the UN’s call for unconditional, unimpeded and sustained access to those affected by the fighting in Raqqa, and more broadly to the 4.5 million who are still in hard-to-reach areas across the war-torn country.”