UN: Recent Developments in Syria Have Left Over One Million Displaced

The United Nations humanitarian agency announced on Thursday, December 13, that since the onset of the advances by rebel groups opposing Bashar al-Assad in Syria, over one million people, primarily women and children, have been displaced within the country. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs noted that from the escalation of the Syrian conflict on November 27 (December 7) to December 12 (December 22), at least one million one hundred thousand people, the majority of whom are women and children, have been forced to leave their homes and cities, now living in unstable conditions. A UN spokesperson mentioned on December 7 that at least 370,000 people have been displaced since the escalation of conflicts in Syria, with over 25,000 of them housed in shelters. However, with the shelters reaching full capacity, many displaced individuals are living in sub-zero temperatures on the streets or in their cars. David Carden, the UN humanitarian coordinator for the Syrian crisis, stated on December 5 that as a result of the Syrian conflicts, over 115,000 residents from the provinces of Idlib and Aleppo have been displaced. Meanwhile, statistics indicate that a decade of conflict and the civil war in Syria have resulted in six million internally displaced persons and six million refugees before the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime.