UNITED NATIONS: A senior UN humanitarian official says over 200,000 people in Syria have fled their homes in the area around the Daesh group’s de facto capital of Raqqa since April 1.
The figure includes more than 30,000 displaced just this month as US-backed Syrian fighters try to oust the extremists.
Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Ursula Mueller told the UN Security Council by video from Jordan on Thursday that an estimated 20,000 to 50,000 people remain in Raqqa.
She said the city is encircled and “there is no way for them to get out.”
Mueller also said the UN has delivered aid only to a few hard-to-reach areas in Syria and not a single besieged location this month. She blamed the Syrian government, armed groups, insecurity and fighting.
UN says over 200,000 have fled Syria’s Raqqa since April 1
UN says over 200,000 have fled Syria’s Raqqa since April 1
Egypt’s El-Sisi to meet Trump on Davos sidelines
- Egypt is reviewing a US invitation to join Trump’s Board of Peace
- The two leaders last met in Sharm El-Sheikh in October during a summit to sign the Gaza ceasefire deal
CAIRO: Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi will meet US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Egypt’s presidency said on Tuesday.
This will be the first meeting between the two leaders since the US announced it was launching the second phase of its plan to end the war in Gaza.
El-Sisi and Trump met in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh in October during a summit convened by Egypt to sign a ceasefire deal aimed at ending the conflict.
On Friday, Trump said he was also ready to restart US mediation between Egypt and Ethiopia to resolve a dispute over an Ethiopian dam considered by both Egypt and Sudan to be a threat to their water supplies.
Egypt is reviewing a US invitation to join Trump’s Board of Peace, according to the Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty.
Egyptian intelligence chief Hassan Rashad is already on the Gaza Executive Board, which the White House has said will help support effective governance and the delivery of services aimed at advancing peace, stability and prosperity for Gaza’s people.
