Geneva, NU Onine
A senior United Nations (UN) humanitarian official on Friday said about 98,000 Syrian people in need of assistance in conflict areas are beyond the reach of the organization.<>

John Ging, director at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said most "cut-off areas" are under the long-term control of opposition groups and UN agencies cannot get there as it's not safe to cross the conflict line.

"This is an area we are increasingly worried about," Ging told reporters after the Syria Humanitarian Forum on Friday.

"As a UN-coordinated effort, our responsibility is to get access to those areas from within Syria, so we are very focused on our negotiations with the Syrian authorities on this issue and with the opposition leadership as well to gain safe access," he said.

Ging warned that the number of people in need of emergency humanitarian aid would increase to 4 million early next year from current 2.5 million if the conflict continues at its current pace.

Radhouane Nouicer, UN Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for Syria, said there has been a further escalation of violence and deterioration of the humanitarian situation inside the country.

The UN response plan inside Syria is currently 45 percent funded and the regional response plan for Syrian refugees is 35 percent funded.

However, he said Syrian government is showing a more flexible attitude to the work of UN agencies and other humanitarian actors in terming of issuing visas and granting field visits.

Panos Moumtzis, Regional Refugee Coordinator of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), told reporters that in the last 24 hours alone, more than 11,000 Syrian refugees have fled to neighboring Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon, with Turkey alone receiving some 9,000 refugees.

He said the latest flux is one of the "the highest that we have had in quite some time," compared with a daily average of 2,000 to 3,000 Syrians crossing the borders.

It brings the number of Syrian refugees registered or assisted in the region to more than 408,000, Moumtzis said.

Editor : Sudarto Murtaufiq