The UN's Syria envoy has said that around 80 percent of the displaced as a result of the latest developments in Syria are women and children.
“More than 900,000 people have been displaced since 1 December. Women and children together comprise 81 percent of the newly displaced population,” UN special envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen told Arab League foreign ministers in Cairo on Wednesday.
Since December, the Syrian regime has led a deadly military campaign against opposition fighters in Idlib, the last major opposition stronghold in the country's northwest after nearly nine years of civil war.
Tensions have soared further since Ankara launched its own offensive days ago against the Syrian regime, after more than 50 Turkish soldiers were killed in Idlib province in recent weeks.
Pedersen called the direct clashes between Syrian regime and Turkish forces "a worrying change in the nature of the conflict".
He warned that "with five international armies active inside Syria, the dangers of wider international conflagration remain".
A "meaningful political process" is needed to avoid "a bleak and uncertain future, with dire regional consequences", Pedersen said.
The implementation of UN Security Council resolutions is a “common responsibility,” he added.
