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More than 13 million Syrians need aid and protection

O’Brien said there are now a few 6.5 million people who have fled their homes and are displaced inside Syria, while 4.2 million have fled the country.

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“People need tents, basic household items, food and water and sanitation services”, Huguenin said, adding that aid workers were continuing to mobilise and that six mobile health clinics had been set up in Aleppo to help the wounded.

At least 80,000 people were displaced in Idlib and Hama governorates but local humanitarian organisations say that number could be more than 100,000, the report said. However, the militant groups have frequently turned on each other and engaged in infighting in a power struggle and over resources. He said the newly displaced are heading toward already crowded facilities along the border with Turkey.

Addressing a United Nations Security Council briefing on the humanitarian situation in Syria on Tuesday, Bashar al-Jaafari said, “The United States spent half a billion dollars – this is enough to fill the humanitarian deficit – half a billion dollars… within the framework of the program to train and to equip the moderate opposition”.

The Syrian civil war has claimed more than 250,000 lives since 2011 and made the country the world’s single-largest source of refugees and displaced people. But numerous strikes have targeted Syrian rebels in areas where the ISIL group is not present and have hit civilians.

An air strike on October 13 reportedly hit a bakery and wheat mill that produced 100 tonnes of flour per day, serving 5,000 families, it said.

The new violence has also heightened the tempo of diplomacy.

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On Monday, Assad met the visiting foreign minister of Oman.

A resident rides a bicycle near damaged buildings in the town of Douma eastern Ghouta in Damascus Syria