50,000 people displaced in SW Syria

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Staffan de Mistura, the UN special envoy for Syria, on Wednesday warned the Security Council that a full-scale battle in the country's previously calm southwestern parts could engulf an area and population the size of eastern Ghouta and Aleppo combined.

Briefing delegates from Geneva, de Mistura said that over the last week, nearly 50,000 people in the southwestern Syria had been displaced by a full ground offensive, aerial bombardments and exchanges of gunfire from both sides.

Displaced Syrians are seen leaving opposition held areas of Daraa, June 26, 2018. /VCG Photo

The implications raised significant risks for regional security and compromised progress being made on the political front, which was focused on the formation of a constitutional committee.

He said that this month, he had consulted with France, Germany, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom and the United States on de-escalation arrangements, as those countries had a stake in the process and could be important players in any reconstruction.

De Mistura had also sought to advance the final statement agreed at the Syrian Congress of National Dialogue, held in the Russian city of Sochi.

A displaced Syrian man from Daraa province waits in a makeshift camp in the province of Quneitra, southwestern Syria, near the border with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, June 22, 2018. /VCG Photo‍

He had received a list of 50 nominees for the constitutional committee from Syria and was awaiting a similar one from the opposition.

"We are moving cautiously in the right direction," he said, urging the Council to help find a solution in the southwestern region that would spare suffering and reduce displacement.

The special envoy urged all parties to use existing channels for the protection of civilians and for providing an exit to the conflict.

(Cover: A Syrian child from the northern city of Manbij, displaced by fighting between the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and ISIL fighters, sits outside mud-brick dwellings at Al-Qadi camp for the displaced, about 30 kilometers north of Manbij, June 20, 2018. /VCG Photo)

Source(s): Xinhua News Agency