UN withdraws staff from Syria
The UN refugee agency has been forced to withdraw five of its 12 staff from the north-eastern al-Hasaka province in Syria, blaming rising insecurity.
Fighting in Ras al-Ayn, a town in the province, has led to a massive flow of Syrian refugees fleeing into Turkey.
The move came as agency spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said that a Syrian Arab Red Crescent warehouse in Aleppo was apparently shelled and 13,000 blankets burned.
She said “recent deliveries have been very difficult”, particularly in Damascus, where operations were disrupted for two days and a truck carrying 600 blankets was hijacked outside the city.
More than 36,000 people have been killed since the uprising against President Bashar Assad’s regime began in March 2011.
