GENEVA: A Syrian airstrike on an opposition in the north flattened a string of houses and killed at least 20 people including children as UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos highlighted the increasingly precarious humanitarian situation in Syria after meeting officials in Damascus to lobby for access for more international aid workers.
“Our assessment at the end of March was that a million people needed help,” she told the BBC, adding that the number may now be as high as 2.5 million people in need of aid in Syria.
That number includes thousands who have taken up shelter in schools, public buildings and private residences, according to aid officials and activists.
In addition to those displaced within Syria, the UN says at least 157,600 people have fled to neighboring countries, based on those registered, while there are reports that many in conflict zones are suffering shortages of food, power and medical supplies.
An AFP correspondent said at least 10 houses had been flattened in yesterday’s bombardment of Aazaz which lies just to the north of Aleppo.
“This was a civilian area. All these houses were packed with women and children sleeping during the fast,” said witness Abu Omar, a civil engineer in his 50s, referring to the dawn-to-dusk fast Muslims observe during Ramadan.
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abdel Rahman said more than 20 people were killed in the attack, the latest atrocity blamed on the regime of President Bashar Assad.
UN human rights investigators yesterday accused forces loyal to Assad of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The report called for the UN Security Council to take “appropriate action” given the gravity of documented violations.
Completing their probe into a massacre in the town of Houla in May, the investigators said government forces and shabbiha fighters were responsible for the killings of more than 100 civilians.
