UN: 800,000 people may be displaced from Syria’s Idlib

Heavily damaged buildings are seen at a marketplace after the Assad Regime carried out air strikes in Idlib Syria on 23 March 2018 [Ahmed Rahhal/Anadolu Agency]

Some 800,000 people who are already living in difficult conditions may be further displaced if the Syrian regime strikes the opposition-held Idlib region, the UN warned yesterday.

A representative of the United Nations Humanitarian Coordination Office (OCHA) in Damascus, Linda Tom, told AFP: “The attack could have catastrophic consequences.”

We fear that, should there be an increased escalation of hostilities in that area – up to 800,000 people could be displaced and that the number of people who are in need of humanitarian assistance, which is already high, could increase dramatically.

Idlib, which lies in northwest Syria, is the last opposition stronghold in the country and is home to fighters and civilians who were expelled from other areas of the country after the regime took control of them.

Some 2.3 million people live in the province including more than one million who were displaced from other areas.

Read: Millions in Syria’s Idlib await Assad regime offensive

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