Damascus’ offensive leaves 50K homeless in south Syria

An intensification of fighting between Assad forces and fighters in southern Syria has left nearly 50,000 civilians homeless in the heart of winter, the United Nations said on Wednesday.
The displacement comes with international attention largely focused on the north of Syria, where a government offensive backed by Russian airstrikes has triggered an exodus of refugees toward the Turkish border.
The UN humanitarian coordinator in Jordan, Edward Kallon, said the world body had organized additional cross-border aid convoys over the past fortnight that had provided winter clothing and basic shelter to more than 30,000 civilians, over 7,000 of them children.
In southern Syria, there has been heavy fighting in much of the surrounding province.
Neighboring Sweida, the heartland of Syria’s Druze minority, has come under attack by Daesh militants but has seen less fighting than other parts of the country.
Meanwhile, a humanitarian group said on Wednesday that at least 25 people were killed in the bombing of a hospital supported by Doctors Without Borders in northwestern Syria this week.
Revising a previous toll of 11 dead, an MSF spokeswoman said nine hospital staff and 16 other people, including patients and a child, had died after the bombing of the hospital on Monday in Idlib province.
At least 11 others were injured, including 10 hospital staff, the spokeswoman said.
MSF has not assigned blame for the attack but the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group, has said a suspected air Russian air strike hit the hospital.
The bombing, which along with others on medical facilities and schools in northern Syria killed at least 50 people earlier this week, was widely condemned by Western governments.
Source: Arab News