UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- While the United Nations is concerned about the safety of its staff and its humanitarian partners in northeast Syria, it continues delivering aid in the conflict zone, a UN spokesman said on Tuesday.
"The UN staff is staying and delivering," said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. "We obviously continue to be concerned about the safety not only about our humanitarian staff but also of our partners."
Dujarric said he has seen some reports that the world organization and others had stopped delivering aid.
"Speaking for the UN, that is not the case," he told correspondents at a regular briefing, but added, "We're obviously not in the area where there's fighting."
Citing an example, he said there were international workers and Syrian nationals in Qamishli delivering aid to civilians in the extreme northeast of the conflict zone.
Teams from the UN refugee agency have assisted some 31,800 people since the escalation of fighting in northeast Syria last week, the spokesman said, adding that the agency has distributed blankets and other core relief items to some 20,250 people in three camps for internally displaced people and to another 11,550 people living in communal shelters in Al-Hassakeh and Tal Tamer.
The agency has also sent additional aid to Qamishli, including blankets for 52,000 people, plastic sheeting for 15,000 people and solar lamps for 20,000, he said.
The World Food Programme said that so far it has provided immediate food assistance to more than 83,000 people fleeing towns in the northeast. It has the capacity to reach over 450,000 people in the area with one round of ready-to-eat food packages.
The Human Rights Office said that, since the Turkish offensive began, it has verified a number of civilian casualties each day as a result of airstrikes, ground-based strikes and sniper fire.
"The Human Rights Office is also appalled to learn of further attacks that affected medical facilities, which have been a particular and persistent feature of the conflict in Syria," he said. "It calls for a thorough investigation of all incidents."
The International Organization for Migration has reported the arrivals of hundreds of Syrian Kurds into Iraq after fleeing the conflict region in Syria.
Fighting in the northeast of Syria escalated when a relatively small contingent of U.S. troops was pulled from the border with Turkey, allowing Turkish forces to cross over and pursue Kurdish forces. The Kurds had been allied with U.S. forces in fighting Islamic State forces in Syria.
