Syria among worst humanitarian crises

Medics in Syria have been treating more wounds from tank and aircraft bombardment in the past month, charity Medecins Sans Frontieres said yesterday, the latest sign government forces are using heavier weaponry to try to crush the uprising.
Wounds inflicted on victims of the violence have worsened since the July 18 bomb attack that killed members of President Bashar Assad’s inner circle, including his defense minister and brother-in-law, the medical organization said.
Medics from the charity are seeing more injuries from tank shelling, aerial bombardment and heavy artillery than at any other time during the 17-month-old conflict which has killed 18,000, MSF said.
“We saw big changes after the bombing of the security forces in Damascus in July with the degradation of security,” Brian Moller, an anaesthetist nurse who is heading up an MSF mission in northern Syria, told Reuters.
US officials, meanwhile, said the conflict had turned Syria into one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, exacerbated by attacks on aid workers.
“There are 2.5 million people in need of aid now inside Syria, and 1.2 million have been displaced from their homes, so on that scale it’s right up there with the worst crises in the world today,” said David Robinson, a top official at the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration.
Also yesterday, Syrian National Council leader Abdel Basset Sayda the council was studying the formation of a transitional government.
“We are currently studying the formation of a transitional government,” Sayda said after meeting French President Francois Hollande in Paris against a background of hints from the Syrian regime that President Bashar Assad could soon step down.
Speaking in Moscow earlier, Syria’s Deputy Prime Minister Qadri Jamil said Assad’s resignation could not be a condition for negotiations with the opposition but added: “Any problems can be discussed during negotiations. We are even ready to discuss this issue.”