GENEVA: The escalation in fighting in Syria has displaced about 280,000 people in just over a week, the United Nations announced Friday, warning that numbers could swell to 1.5 million.
“The figure we have in front of us is 280,000 people since November 27,” Samer AbdelJaber, head of emergency coordination at the World Food Programme, told reporters in Geneva, saying “That does not include the figure of people who fled from Lebanon during the recent escalations in fighting there.”
The announcement comes as thousands of people fled the central Syrian city of Homs overnight and Friday morning, a war monitoring group and residents said, as insurgents sought to push their lightning offensive against government forces further south.
They have already captured the key cities of Aleppo in the north and Hama in the center, dealing successive blows to President Bashar Assad, nearly 14 years after protests against him erupted across Syria.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitoring group, said thousands of people had begun fleeing on Thursday night toward western coastal regions, a stronghold of the government, Reuters news agency reported.
A resident of the coastal area said thousands of people had begun arriving there from Homs, fearing the insurgents’ rapid advance.
On Friday morning, Israeli air strikes hit two border crossings between Lebanon and Syria, Lebanese transport minister Ali Hamieh said.
The Syrian State News Agency (SANA) said the Arida border crossing with Lebanon was out of service due to the attack.
Earlier, the Syrian army has withdrawn from the central city of Hama after insurgents broke through its defences, the military said Thursday.
The announcement came hours after fighters said they had entered the city and were marching toward the centre.
The Syrian army said it redeployed from Hama and took positions outside the city to protect the lives of civilians.
The capture of Hama, Syria’s fourth largest city, is another blow for the government days after insurgents captured much of the northern city of Aleppo, the country’s largest city.
On Thursday morning, insurgents said they entered Hama after three days of intense clashes with the Syrian army on its outskirts.
The Syrian army said in a statement later that a number of troops were killed after resisting the insurgents for days. It accused the attackers of relying on suicide attacks to break through the defences of the city.
Tens of thousands of people have been displaced by the armed groups’ attack, which began with the surprise offensive on November 27.
The insurgents claimed on their Military Operations Department channel on the Telegram app Thursday that they have entered Hama and are marching toward its centre.
“Our forces are taking positions inside the city of Hama,” the channel quoted a local commander identified as Maj. Hassan Abdul-Ghani said.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said fierce battles were fought inside Hama.
Erdogan Urges Assad to Find ‘Political Solution’
Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday called on Syria President Bashar al-Assad to urgently find a “political solution” to his country’s recent escalation.
“The Syrian regime must commit urgently with its people in favour of a global political solution,” Erdogan said in a call with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, according to a statement released by the presidency.
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Erdogan has held a number of discussions with other leaders on the crisis in recent days.
“Turkey has been striving to reduce tensions, protect civilians and open a political process and will continue to do so,” Erdogan was quoted as saying in the statement.
Last week, armed groups launched a surprise offensive and captured significant parts of Aleppo.
President Bashar al-Assad vowed to fight back and stop the insurgents.
