The mass exodus from the Idlib area and the countryside of Aleppo continued as a result of the military operations carried out by the Syrian regime, supported by Russian warplanes.
According to United Nations estimates, the number of displaced people since December 1, 2019, to February 17, reached 875,000. Of them, 40,000 were displaced between 12-17 February.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that half of those displaced are children. The office said that the crisis in Idlib has reached a horrific level, and that we may witness the largest humanitarian catastrophe in the twenty-first century.
The displacement comes in the cold weather in Syria and the region, and the impact of the winter season on the displaced people in particular is a result of the presence of most of them already in the open, or in primitive tents that almost never protect from rain water.
The humanitarian organisations operating in the region suffer from the lack of necessary humanitarian supplies, as a result of the interruption of international humanitarian support, and the targeting of Russian aircraft for humanitarian workers, their headquarters and mechanisms.