Aid Agency Warns Of Humanitarian Disaster, 35 Killed Yesterday By Airstrikes In Syria
Toronto, Canada- UOSSM denounces the airstrikes on civilian areas of Idlib and Aleppo yesterday, January 21, within the de-escalation zone. The attack killed at least 35 civilians and injured countless more. Today, the airstrikes continued levelling areas of Maarat Al Nouman and Aleppo.
In the past 10 days, 73 civilians were killed including 27 children and at least 11,700 families have been displaced. In the strongest terms, UOSSM condemns these attacks against civilians. UOSSM demands the international community act immediately to protect millions of civilians, and that they mobilize emergency rations of shelter, food, water and medical care for the underserved population. "We are hearing reports of hundreds of airstrikes on civilian areas in the past few days.
If these attacks continue, it will be a humanitarian disaster and millions could be driven towards the Turkish border." - Said Dr. Hussam Al Fakir, Chairman of UOSSM International Last year, the UN counted 82 attacks on medical centres, leaving the medical infrastructure decimated in Idlib and unable to handle another escalation of violence. The winter weather in Idlib is currently near 0 degrees celsius and rainy, exposing hundreds of thousands of internally displaced people to the harsh conditions without adequate shelter. Today, it was reported that an IDP encampment was hit by an airstrike killing two people. There are over 3.5 million people in the Idlib governate and 1 million people in the densely populated Idlib city. In December alone, over 300,000 people were displaced by violence in Maarat Nouman and the Idlib countryside. UNICEF estimates that 140,000 children have been displaced into the freezing winter in the past five weeks. The UN verified 145 attacks on schools and 82 attacks on medical infrastructure (90% in North Western Syria) in 2019.
Media inquiries and interviews please contact : Name: Avi D'Souza Director Of Communications, UOSSM Intl. Phone: (647) 528-5029 Email: press@uossm.org
About UOSSM : UOSSM (Union des Organisations de Secours et Soins Médicaux) provides free medical aid to the people of Syria regardless of nationality, ethnicity, gender, religion or political affiliation. UOSSM international, founded by Syrian Doctors around the world, started in 2012 and operates 12 major hospitals and supports 120 clinics inside Syria. UOSSM has performed over 1,000,000 medical treatments inside Syria since inception.