UN official voices concern over situation in Idlib

United Nations, May 30 (IANS)�The top UN official for humanitarian affairs on Tuesday expressed concern over the security and humanitarian situation in Syria's Idlib.

"The situation in Idlib is alarming, with airstrikes, clashes between armed groups, overcrowding and severely stretched basic services deepening the suffering of both displaced people who have fled there and host communities," Mark Lowcock, UN undersecretary-general and emergency relief coordinator, told the Security Council, Xinhua reported.

More than 80,000 newly displaced people have arrived in Idlib since March. Keeping pace with the increase in needs in the northwestern governorate has involved redirecting resources from other activities, he said.

Many of the most recent new arrivals in Idlib have come from northern rural Homs. Some 35,000 people were evacuated from this area in the south earlier this month, after a significant escalation of conflicts, said Lowcock.

An inter-agency convoy -- the first in more than two months -- is due to go to northern rural Homs on Wednesday with assistance for nearly 93,000 people, following receipt of facilitation letters from the Syrian authorities on Sunday.