Food aid to millions of Syrians will be cut within the next two months unless fresh funding is received for the humanitarian effort, the top UN aid official warned today.
Last month, the UN World Food Programme provided food to 4.1 million Syrians but rations have been reduced to reach as many people as possible, UN humanitarian aid chef Valerie Amos told the UN Security Council.
"Without additional funds, the World Food Programme will be forced to end its operations completely within two months," Amos told a council meeting, the first held on Syria since United States and its allies launched airstrikes on jihadists in the country last week.
With winter fast approaching, Amos also appealed for supplies to protect Syrians from the cold and said neighbouring countries that have taken in millions of refugees also needed support.
More than 191,000 people have been killed since Syria's war began in March 2011, shifting from an uprising against President Bashar al-Assad to a breeding ground for Islamic extremists who are active in Iraq.
The United States and its allies a week ago began carrying out an air campaign against jihadist positions in Syria, expanding an operation that they had launched against the Islamic State group in Iraq in August.
In the northern Raqa and eastern Deir Ezzor regions, where Islamist fighters are on the rampage, nearly 600,000 people remain out of reach of aid workers delivering food for the third month in a row.
Tens of thousands more people could be driven out of Syria from the north if IS forces continue to gain ground, Amos warned.
UN aid convoys on Tuesday opened a new crossing point from Turkey, at Nusaybin, to send urgently needed supplies to 225,000 people in northern Syria, she added.
The Security Council in July adopted a resolution allowing cross-border aid deliveries, without the Syrian government's consent.
