UN in biggest ever appeal for Syria crisis

The United Nations warned half of all Syrians will need humanitarian aid by the end of 2013 and launched what it said was the largest emergency appeal in history to cope with the civil war crisis.

“Syria as a civilisation is unravelling”, said the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, announcing the call for some $5bn (€3.8bn) before the end of the year.

The joint statement by UN agencies coincided with heavy fighting on numerous fronts, as rebels attacked an air base in northern Syria while forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad sought to capitalise on their own recent gains.

Clashes also continued on the Golan Heights, close to the ceasefire line between Israel and Syria, a day after rebels briefly seized the sole crossing between the two foes.

Austria, a major contributor to a UN monitoring mission in the Golan, announced on Thursday it was withdrawing from the area because of the violence, jeopardising an operation that has helped keep the Israeli-Syrian war quiet for four decades.

Russian president Vladimir Putin, who has backed the Syrian government since the start of the unrest in Mar 2011, said Moscow was ready to replace the Austrians.

Highlighting the scale of the crisis, UN humanitarian agencies in Geneva said 10.25m Syrians would need aid by the end of the year at a cost of $5bn.

“The funds we are appealing for are a matter of survival for suffering Syrians and they are existential for the neighbouring countries hosting refugees,” Guterres said.

Judging by the current refugee flows, the United Nations also forecast that the Syrian refugee population would double over the coming seven months to 3.45m from 1.6m.

Refugees are housed in often squalid camps across Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Iraq and Egypt.

The Lebanese Shi’ite group Hezbollah has poured its men into Syria to help Assad battle the mainly Sunni rebels, playing a crucial role in the capture earlier this week of Qusair — a town on a key route linking the capital Damascus to the coast.