The United Nations remained deeply concerned over the plight of up to 2 million people in need of assistance across Aleppo city and for those in the surrounding countryside in Syria, a UN spokesman said on Monday.

The humanitarian situation in Aleppo was dire, including in the east of the city where between 250,000 to 275,000 people remain trapped following the July closure of the Castello Road, the last remaining access route in and out of the area, Farhan Haq, the deputy UN spokesman, said at a daily news briefing here.

The situation was also bad in government controlled areas in the west, where between 1.2 million and 1.5 million people live, as well as in the surrounding suburbs and neighboring countryside which have continued to suffer from attacks, Haq said.

"Hostilities persisted over the weekend, including airstrikes and barrel bomb attacks on three medical facilities in Aleppo governorate," he said.

The airstrikes reportedly struck a paediatric hospital in Big Orem, and Al-Huda hospital in Hor on Aug. 13-14, he said.

"In eastern Aleppo city, several rockets reportedly struck the area in the vicinity of Al-Quds hospital in Al-Sukari neighbourhood on Aug. 14."

In the absence of a ceasefire, the UN continues to call for a weekly 48-hour humanitarian pause in the fighting to provide assistance to those cut off from aid across the city to receive food, water, and other life-saving assistance, he added.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) was concerned about the deteriorating security and humanitarian situation across Aleppo.

The UN and its partners had been providing assistance including regular food supplies from across the border in Turkey to some 144,000 people, as well as assistance to thousands of others, up until July 7, when the last available route into eastern Aleppo, the Castello Road, was cut by fighting.

Aleppo has seen intensified battles and violence recently with the Syrian government troops tightening the noose on the rebel-held areas in the eastern part, while the rebels unleashed several offensives to break government siege on rebel-held areas.

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)