UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 4 (Xinhua) -- UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in the Syria Ali Al-Za'tari said Thursday that humanitarian operation in the country so far only received about 45 percent of what it asked for the year of 2018.
The UN official told a press conference that the UN humanitarian team asked for 3.4 billion U.S. dollars for Syria for 2018 but have until now only received about 45 percent, or 1.5 billion dollars.
"The humanitarian crisis in Syria is not going to phase out in 2019 and could probably cross into 2020 or future years," he noted.
Moreover, the UN humanitarian team is worried about the lack of clarity "as to the numbers of those who are in need in Syria for 2019," he said, explaining "our system is need-based, therefore we need to target those who are in need of humanitarian assistance."
To clarify that, he said, some factual assessments need to be carried about "across the entire sectors that we have," including health, water sanitation and protection.
The UN humanitarian team and their partners operate throughout Syria with the only exception of Idlib, where they operate across the border from Turkey.
According to the UN Refugee Agency, over 5.6 million people have fled Syria since 2011 when the civil war broke out, seeking safety in Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan and beyond.
Moreover, more than six million Syrians are internally displaced and some three million live in hard-to-reach and besieged areas.
