A Syrian man walks amid destroyed buildings following government air strikes in the Eastern Ghouta rebel-held enclave of Douma, on the outskirts of the capital Damascus on March 19, 2018. (AFP Photo)

UNITED NATIONS, May 22 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Tuesday that more than 128 million around the world need immediate humanitarian aid and this staggering figure is mainly driven by conflicts.

In a statement to the Security Council convened for the protection of civilians in armed conflicts, Guterres shared alarming figures on the issue.

"Last year, the United Nations recorded the death and injury of more than 26,000 civilians in just six countries affected by conflict: Afghanistan, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq, Somalia, and Yemen," he said. "Ten thousand of these were in Afghanistan."

The UN chief noted civilians in conflict zones are also subject to horrific violations of human rights, including rape and other sexual violence.

He took the Democratic Republic of Congo for example, saying the UN documented more than 800 cases of conflict-related sexual violence last year -- a 56 percent increase from 2016.

Syrians wait to be evacuated from the rebel-held town of Rastan in a convoy of buses on May 7, 2018, after rebels and civilianswere granted safe passage to the rebel-held town of Jarabulus, in Aleppo province. (AFP Photo)

In regard to refugees and internally displaced persons, Guterres said conflicts continue to force millions of people to flee their homes for an uncertain future, revealing that at the end of 2016, 65.6 million people were uprooted by war, violence and persecution.

The UN chief went on to point out that bombing and shelling of towns and cities killed and injured tens of thousands of civilians every year.

As for Syria, he said, attacks reportedly killed and injured significant numbers of civilians in Aleppo, Dayr al-Zawr, Homs, Idlib, Raqqah and Rif Dimashq, destroying essential infrastructure, schools and hospitals.