BEIRUT: A battle between Syrian regime forces and opposition fighters for the northwestern Idlib province could affect the lives of more than 1 million children, many of whom live in refugee camps, the UN’s children’s agency warned on Friday.
Food, water, and medicine are already in short supply in the largely rural province, which is now home to over 1 million Syrians displaced from their homes by regime offensives in other parts of the country, said UNICEF.
The agency said a battle for Idlib, the last major bastion for Syria’s political and military opposition, would exacerbate an already dire humanitarian situation there and potentially displace 350,000 children.
The regime forces dropped leaflets across the province on Thursday, urging residents to reconcile with its rule. Officials have warned that the regime will take back the province by force if necessary.
There are 2.9 million people living in Idlib and surrounding opposition-held areas, according to UN estimates.
“War cannot be allowed to go to Idlib,” said Jan Egeland, a top UN humanitarian adviser on Syria.
The UN has appealed on Turkey to open its border to refugees, should the regime decides to attack the province, Egeland said.
Separately, a pro-regime daily Al-Watan said Thursday that Syria’s civil registries recorded 68,000 deaths in the war-torn country in 2017.
“Last year, we confirmed 68,000 without specifying the nature of their death and 32,000 this year,” civil registries chief Ahmad Rahal said.
He did not provide any additional details about those who had died, including in what part of Syria they had lost their lives or whether they had been victims of the ongoing conflict.
Thursday’s news come after activists accused authorities of quietly updating civil records to mark detainees in regime jails as “deceased” — some backdated by several years.
Human rights activists say tens of thousands of Syrians are held in regime jails across the country.
Relatives and advocates say they are often tortured, denied a fair trial, and deprived of contact with their families.
But Rahal said employees at the civil record did not have a “missing” box to tick.
“If a document comes through from any government body — whether a hospital or another — to confirm a death, it is confirmed without specifying if they were missing or not.”
The Syrian Network for Human Rights has documented around 400 cases in recent months where civil registry employees have told family members that their detained relative has died.
There could be further such instances which are yet to be documented.
Around 80,000 remain forcibly disappeared by the regime, the rights group says.
More than 350,000 people have been killed since Syria’s civil war started in 2011, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor says.
More than 33,000 were killed last year alone, including more than 10,000 civilians and 7,000 pro-regime fighters, it says.
During the first seven months of this year, at least 14,000 people lost their lives among them more than 5,000 civilians and 7,000 soldiers and loyalists.
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1 million children at risk in Idlib, says UN
1 million children at risk in Idlib, says UN
- Human rights activists say tens of thousands of Syrians are held in regime jails across the country
- More than 350,000 people have been killed since Syria’s civil war started in 2011
France, allies preparing bid to ‘gradually’ reopen Strait of Hormuz: Macron
ABOARD FRENCH AIRCRAFT CARRIER CHARLES DE GAULLE: France and its allies are preparing a “defensive” mission to reopen the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz, President Emmanuel Macron said Monday as the Middle East war entered its second week.
The French leader landed by helicopter on the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier, dispatched to the Mediterranean after US-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28 triggered a war that has sown regional chaos and which threatens to spill into other parts of the world.
Macron said during a visit to Cyprus earlier in the day that the Hormuz mission would be aimed at escorting container ships and tankers in order to gradually reopen the strait “after the end of the hottest phase of the conflict.”
“This is essential for international trade, but also for the flow of gas and oil, which must be able to leave this (Gulf) region once again,” Macron said during a visit to the island to discuss regional security.
Speaking alongside Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Macron said a “purely defensive, purely support mission” will be put together by European and non-European states.
The European Union on Monday said it was ready to “enhance” its operations to protect maritime traffic in the Middle East.
The EU has been discussing reinforcing its naval mission in the Red Sea after the US-Israeli attacks on Iran triggered a broader regional war.
Maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, a key Gulf waterway through which a fifth of global crude passes, has all but halted since the war broke out.
Macron visited Cyprus after the EU member was targeted by Iranian-made drones last week.
The French leader said an attack on Cyprus was an attack on all of Europe.
“When Cyprus is attacked, it is Europe that is attacked,” he said.
The drone attack in Cyprus led to France’s deployment of the Charles de Gaulle carrier to the Mediterranean, as well as a frigate and air defense units to the island.
Paris has insisted its stance in the region is “strictly defensive.”
- Bombing won’t bring change -
The initial US-Israeli strikes on Iran killed supreme leader Ali Khamenei, and the Islamic republic on Monday named his son, Mojtaba Khamanei, as his successor — an appointment US President Donald Trump said he was “not happy” with.
Aboard the Charles de Gaulle, Macron said the conflict’s duration depended on what US-Israeli objectives were, warning that “profound” changes to the Iranian leadership could not occur “through American-Israeli bombings alone.”
“We are putting ourselves in a position to last,” he said, adding that the war, “in this intense phase,” could last “several days, perhaps several weeks.”
The flagship Charles de Gaulle may eventually be deployed to the Strait of Hormuz as part of the announced mission, Macron said.
A French frigate was already taking part in the EU’s Operation Aspides, which was launched in the Red Sea in 2024 to prevent attacks on trade vessels by Iran-backed Houthi rebel forces.
Macron earlier said that France would contribute “in the long term” with two frigates to Operation Aspides.
“What we want to do is to ensure freedom of navigation and maritime security,” he said.
Separately, the French president on Monday morning spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the situation in the Middle East and Lebanon, the Elysee said.
The French leader landed by helicopter on the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier, dispatched to the Mediterranean after US-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28 triggered a war that has sown regional chaos and which threatens to spill into other parts of the world.
Macron said during a visit to Cyprus earlier in the day that the Hormuz mission would be aimed at escorting container ships and tankers in order to gradually reopen the strait “after the end of the hottest phase of the conflict.”
“This is essential for international trade, but also for the flow of gas and oil, which must be able to leave this (Gulf) region once again,” Macron said during a visit to the island to discuss regional security.
Speaking alongside Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Macron said a “purely defensive, purely support mission” will be put together by European and non-European states.
The European Union on Monday said it was ready to “enhance” its operations to protect maritime traffic in the Middle East.
The EU has been discussing reinforcing its naval mission in the Red Sea after the US-Israeli attacks on Iran triggered a broader regional war.
Maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, a key Gulf waterway through which a fifth of global crude passes, has all but halted since the war broke out.
Macron visited Cyprus after the EU member was targeted by Iranian-made drones last week.
The French leader said an attack on Cyprus was an attack on all of Europe.
“When Cyprus is attacked, it is Europe that is attacked,” he said.
The drone attack in Cyprus led to France’s deployment of the Charles de Gaulle carrier to the Mediterranean, as well as a frigate and air defense units to the island.
Paris has insisted its stance in the region is “strictly defensive.”
- Bombing won’t bring change -
The initial US-Israeli strikes on Iran killed supreme leader Ali Khamenei, and the Islamic republic on Monday named his son, Mojtaba Khamanei, as his successor — an appointment US President Donald Trump said he was “not happy” with.
Aboard the Charles de Gaulle, Macron said the conflict’s duration depended on what US-Israeli objectives were, warning that “profound” changes to the Iranian leadership could not occur “through American-Israeli bombings alone.”
“We are putting ourselves in a position to last,” he said, adding that the war, “in this intense phase,” could last “several days, perhaps several weeks.”
The flagship Charles de Gaulle may eventually be deployed to the Strait of Hormuz as part of the announced mission, Macron said.
A French frigate was already taking part in the EU’s Operation Aspides, which was launched in the Red Sea in 2024 to prevent attacks on trade vessels by Iran-backed Houthi rebel forces.
Macron earlier said that France would contribute “in the long term” with two frigates to Operation Aspides.
“What we want to do is to ensure freedom of navigation and maritime security,” he said.
Separately, the French president on Monday morning spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the situation in the Middle East and Lebanon, the Elysee said.
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