UN: Nightmare in Idlib getting worse

“The nightmare in Idlib is getting worse,” said Mark Cutts, Deputy Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Syria Crisis, after Russian airstrikes on the city of Maarat al-Numaan killed 39 civilians on Monday.

The statement added that the airstrikes led to seriously injuring more than 100 women, children and men, in most cases. Cutts said: “We have seen one of the most deadly attacks on civilian areas since the outbreak of clashes about three months ago.”

The statement explained that some of the bodies were torn to pieces or burned to the point that identifying them became an impossible task. There were also many victims among women and children, and some of them suffered the most terrible injuries.

The statement also noted that dedicated and courageous humanitarian workers were doing their best to assist, with the support of the United Nations. Nonetheless, in that kind of environment, no one is safe.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) indicated that Monday was undoubtedly one of the bloodiest days since the end of April, as it marked a further dramatic escalation of an increasingly worsening conflict in northwestern Syria.

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The OCHA pointed out that all this is part of a wave of new attacks which targeted vital civilian infrastructure in northwest Syria in recent months, including health facilities, schools, water stations and bakeries. It noted that the United Nations had documented more than 400 civilian death cases.

Cutts stressed that nothing could justify attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure, and called for an immediate halt of the offence.

The team of the Response Coordinators conveyed in a statement on Wednesday that 210 people were killed and wounded in the northern provinces of Idlib and Aleppo, and the centre of Hama following air raids executed by Russia and the Syrian regime on Monday.

The statement also unveiled that 53 civilians, including nine children, in Idlib and seven civilians, including two children, in Hama as well as four civilians in Aleppo, including two children, were killed, in addition to 146 wounded people.

The statement said that the military aircraft of Russia and the regime targeted 14 vital centres in the provinces, including two markets, four hospitals, and four schools, according to The New Arab.