NEW YORK: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is “alarmed” by the escalation of violence in Syria and is calling for an immediate end to fighting, his spokesman said on Monday.

“All parties must do their utmost to protect civilians and civilian objects, including by allowing safe passage to civilians who are fleeing hostilities,” spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.

“Syrians have endured the conflict for nearly 14 years. They deserve a political horizon that will deliver a peaceful future, not more bloodshed,” he added.

UN peacekeeping operations in the country have been “largely suspended” across Aleppo, Idlib and Hama due to security concerns, Dujarric said.

“This has led to severe disruption in people’s ability to access lifesaving assistance,” he said, adding that the United Nations remains committed to delivering humanitarian aid.

Dujarric warned that “the presence of unburied bodies and lack of drinking water” in Syria threatens public health and said that damage to Aleppo’s university hospital had left hundreds of patients without care.

“Syria is also already one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises, with 16.7 million human beings in need of assistance and over 7 million people internally displaced,” he said. “More than half a million people have also fled from Lebanon to Syria in recent weeks, and winter conditions will only make the needs in the coming weeks even more acute.”

Syrian President Bashar Assad has branded the militants’ offensive an attempt to redraw the regional map.

“The terrorist escalation reflects the far-reaching goals of dividing the region and fragmenting the countries in it and redraw the map,” a statement from Assad’s office quoted him as saying.

At a news conference in Ankara, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan blamed the recent flare-up of the conflict on the Syrian government’s refusal to enter a dialogue with the anti-government forces that Turkiye supports. “Recent developments show once again that Damascus must reconcile with its own people,” the Turkish minister said. “Turkiye is ready to make all the necessary contributions toward this.”

Turkiye has been seeking to normalize ties with Syria to address security threats from groups affiliated with Kurdish militants along its southern border and to help ensure the safe return of more than 3 million Syrian refugees. 

Assad has insisted that Turkiye’s withdrawal of its forces from northern Syria be a condition for any normalization between the two countries.