UNITED NATIONS, July 30 (Xinhua) -- The UN humanitarian chief on Tuesday said the intensified bombing in Idlib of Syria has been hitting civilian targets in the past three months, destroying at least 17 villages.
Mark Lowcock, UN undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, said the 90 days of bombing and shelling "has produced carnage in the so-cold de-escalation zone of Idlib."
The northwestern governorate is the last opposition-held stronghold. Last September, Russia and Turkey, respectively backing the government and the opposition, brokered a de-escalation zone for Idlib, averting a major government operation in the area.
Despite the agreement, fighting intensified again in late April, putting at risk the livelihood of some three million people residing in the governorate.
Citing the Office of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Lowcock told the Security Council that at least 450 civilians have been killed in Idlib since late April, including more than a hundred in the last two weeks alone, and over 440,000 have been displaced.
He also pointed to satellite imagery that illustrates the impact of the fighting on towns and villages in southern Idlib over the last three months.
He compared two satellite pictures of a town in southern Idlib called Kafr Nabutha, which were taken at the end of April and then at the end of June. "What you see is a level of destruction consistent with a bombing campaign aimed at a scorched earth policy."
The UN humanitarian chief noted that besides Kafr Nabutha, 16 entire villages have been almost completely destroyed and emptied in the three-month period.
Bombing on civilian locations, including health and humanitarian facilities, took place despite the fact that their coordinates had been shared with the parties to the conflict through the UN de-confliction system.
"Whether the information provided through the de-confliction system is being used by the parties to protect civilian facilities from attack or to target them for attack is an extremely important question," Lowcock said, adding his team and the civilian facilities will meet to re-evaluate the effectiveness of the system.
