The United Nations said they comprised the "largest short-term humanitarian appeal ever", but still fell some way short of a comprehensive relief plan. "The violence in Syria is raging across the country and there are nearly no more safe areas where people can flee and find safety," Radhouane Nouicer, UN regional humanitarian co-ordinator for Syria, told a news briefing in Geneva.
Noting that Syria's capital Damascus was the scene of "daily shelling and bombing", he added: "It is a realistic appeal that takes into consideration what we commit ourselves to achieve. It is not a comprehensive response plan, it is limited to what we can do in such a difficult operating environment." UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on countries to respond generously to the appeals presented to donor governments in Geneva as winter takes hold in the region.
"I'm considering convening an international donor conference, in close co-ordination with key partners, early next year," he told reporters in New York. Inside Syria, UN agencies aim to help 4 million people in need of urgent humanitarian assistance, including an estimated 2 million displaced from their homes by fighting between President Bashar al-Assad's forces and rebels trying to topple him.
The plan provides for food, shelter and bedding, water and sanitation, emergency medical services, clothes, kitchen sets and baby supplies for beleaguered civilians in all 14 provinces. The UN's World Food Programme (WFP) is reaching 1.5 million Syrians inside the country with food rations each month, but said it faces increasing constraints, including mounting insecurity and fuel shortages.
"Food processing, milling, bakeries rely on fuel electricity to produce a bread product. And of course we are dealing with a largely urbanised population here, so naturally any interruption of that infrastructure is going to be cause for concern," said David Kaatrud, WFP director of emergencies.
More than 525,000 Syrian refugees have already been registered abroad and the latest estimate is that up to 1 million refugees in five countries, including Egypt for the first time, will need help in the first half of 2013, the UN refugee agency said. There are already more than 10,400 Syrian refugees registered in Egypt, but the government estimates that there are tens of thousands who have not sought assistance yet, it said. "The grim situation inside Syria has a direct impact on refugee outflows to the neighbouring countries," Panos Moumtzis, UNHCR regional refugee co-ordinator, told the briefing.