UN says 100,000 ‘trapped’ in Syria’s Afrin

BEIRUT: UN officials say some 100,000 people are “trapped” in rural areas of Syria’s northern Afrin district and need humanitarian aid after Turkish and allied Syrian forces drove out a Syrian Kurdish militia.
Spokeswoman Marixie Mercado of children’s agency UNICEF says it hasn’t been able to deliver health and nutrition supplies to the district in 20 days, and water trucks have stopped deliveries since Thursday.
UNICEF estimates 50,000 children are among those who need humanitarian aid in Afrin.
On Twitter, Syria country representative Sajjad Malik of the UN refugee agency wrote Tuesday that “looting, destruction of properties & exodus of civilians continues” in Afrin, and “100,000 civilians stay trapped inside in rural areas.”
Earlier, the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Peter Maurer, raised doubts about Turkish aid efforts in Afrin, saying “the credibility of the Turkish Red Crescent working in Afrin with the Kurdish population is close to zero.”
Turkey’s Foreign Ministry said Maurer’s statement was “far from truth and inacceptable.”