UNITED NATIONS, June 18 (Xinhua) -- UN Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Mark Lowcock on Tuesday asked parties to the conflict in Syria's Idlib to uphold international humanitarian law.
UN Security Council-listed terrorist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham has a significant presence in Idlib governorate and countering the group is a major challenge, said Lowcock.
"But counterterrorism efforts cannot in any way absolve states of their obligations to uphold international humanitarian law," he told the Security Council meeting on the situation in Idlib, the last rebel-held territory in northwestern Syria.
"And that is the bottom line... international humanitarian law must be upheld and attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure need to stop and they need to stop immediately," he said.
Lowcock said violence did not stop in Idlib.
Over the last six weeks since his last briefing to the Security Council on Syria, the conduct of hostilities has resulted in more than 230 civilian deaths, including 69 women and 81 children. Hundreds more have been injured, said Lowcock.
Since May 1, an estimated 330,000 people have been forced to flee their homes, moving northward toward the border with Turkey. That almost doubles the number of newly displaced people since his briefing last month.
Camps for the displaced people are overcrowded, with many people forced to stay in the open, he said. Those who remain in towns and villages close to the fighting live in constant fear of the next attack. Many are crowding into basements, seeking refuge from airstrikes, volleys of shells and mortar rounds.
Hospitals, schools and markets have been hit. Power stations have been affected. Crops have been burned. Children are forced out of school, said Lowcock, who is also the UN emergency relief coordinator.
He said there are reports that 19 people were killed on Monday in airstrikes and artillery shelling. "We are faced with a humanitarian disaster unfolding before our eyes. There is no denying the facts," said Lowcock.
