150,000 Syrians fled from crisis in February alone, UN says

Jeffrey Feltman, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, told the UN Security Council on Tuesday that the crisis in Syria had “led more than 900,000 people to flee to neighboring countries, including over 150,000 this month alone.”
 
    “The humanitarian situation is becoming worse in Syria,” Feltman stated.
 
 
Syria has been experiencing unrest for nearly two years, and many people, including large numbers of security forces, have been killed in the turmoil.
 
Several international human rights organizations have said that the foreign-backed militant groups have committed war crimes in Syria.
 
On February 19, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos warned of a ‘humanitarian tragedy’ in Syria.
 
Amos said the UN humanitarian agencies were unable to reach northern Syria to carry out aid operations due to the presence of the militants. “We are watching a humanitarian tragedy unfold before our eyes.”
 
“We must do all we can to reassure the people that we care and that we will not let them down,” Amos added.
 
In an interview recently broadcast on German television, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said that the government did not start the conflict and the militant groups were the ones killing Syrian citizens and destroying the country’s infrastructure.