150,000 Syrians flee Aleppo in less than one week
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The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees' Representative in Syria, Gonzalo Vargas Llosa, warns that the number of displaced is only expected to increase.
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Illustrative: People carry their luggage as they cross into Syria on foot through a crater caused by Israeli airstrikes aiming to block Beirut-Damascus highway at the Masnaa crossing in Lebanon on October 5, 2024. (AP)
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Representative in Syria, Gonzalo Vargas Llosa, the number of Syrians forced to evacuate due to violence in Aleppo and elsewhere is fast increasing, having surpassed 150,000 in less than a week.
Llosa wrote on X that this number is expected to rise and the "blankets, mattresses and water our partners and us are giving them may relieve their suffering momentarily. But it will not be enough."
"They also urgently need shelter, basic services, and livelihoods," the commissioner detailed.
The number of Syrians forced to flee because of the fighting in Aleppo and beyond is growing rapidly and has now reached 150,000 in less than a week. And it will unfortunately very likely continue to rise.
— Gonzalo Vargas Llosa (@llosa_gonzalo) December 4, 2024
The blankets, mattresses and water our partners and us are giving them… pic.twitter.com/dCClPUeWxn
The terror offensive launched by Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and other insurgent groups, including the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA), has been accompanied by accusations of foreign powers providing support, with claims of Ukrainian and Turkish backing fueling the escalation.
Particularly, Ukraine has been accused of providing HTS terrorists with FPV drones and other explosive drones, as well as the know-how to conduct coordinated assaults between ground forces and drone operators.
Meanwhile, the Syrian government continues to rally regional and international support against the onslaught. Moreover, Resistance factions and other allies continue to provide the Syrian government with personnel and equipment to thwart the goals of terrorists and their backers.
Terrorists hold displaced Syrians hostage in al-Safirah, Aleppo
The residents of Nubl and al-Zahraa, located in northwest Aleppo in Syria, have been suffering of hunger and shortages in medicine for days after armed terrorist groups held the communities hostage in Aleppo's southwestern city of al-Safirah.
Reportedly, around 2,000 residents crossed a 60 km distance from Nubl and al-Zahraa to reach al-Safirah as part of a longer journey to reach Damascus, Homs, and other safe areas.
The siege was imposed while civilians were fleeing their cities in northwestern Aleppo toward safer areas in other provinces after the terrorists seized control of Aleppo.
Video footage of children eating grass and fodder from the ground in al-Safirah due to the lack of food was circulated on social media, while more showed dozens of civilians sitting on the floor of a stone building without blankets, amid the cries of children and weeping of women, with no access to the basic necessities for survival, such as water, food, electricity, and medicine.
In the video, one of the civilians appealed to international organizations and humanitarian associations to provide assistance to trapped civilians.
After the terrorists took control of al-Safirah and the road from Aleppo leading to other provinces, they rounded up the civilians and forcibly transported them to an unknown location. More than 2,000 civilians are trapped, facing the threat of dying from hunger and thirst or getting killed by armed groups, unless they are swiftly evacuated by UN and humanitarian organizations.
It is worth noting that telecommunication systems have been out of service in Aleppo and its countryside ever since the terrorist groups destroyed telecom towers in Syria.
