MSF: Over 100,000 Trapped in Northern Syria Amid Renewed Fighting

The Doctors Without Borders organization urged all warring parties in Syria to respect civilian lives and health facilities.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — More than 100,000 people are trapped in the Azaz district of northern Syria's Aleppo province caught between a Daesh frontline, territories controlled by the Kurds and the Turkish border, Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF, or Doctors Without Borders) said Monday.

"The resurgence of heavy fighting over the last week has led to more than 35,000 people fleeing displaced people camps taken over by Islamic State [Daesh] group, or that are too close to front lines. There are now more than 100,000 people gathered at border areas with Turkey, with active fighting just seven kilometres away," the MSF said in a statement.

UPDATE North #Syria The situation is critical for >100,000 people trapped in the Azaz district of Aleppo governorate https://t.co/Ul2KyQpk0s

— MSF International (@MSF) 18 апреля 2016 г.

​The fighting in the area has led to medical staff fleeing the area and a number of medical facilities closing. An MSF hospital in the Azaz district is still functioning.

"Yet again we see tens of thousands of people forced to flee but with almost nowhere safe to go – trapped in this bloody, brutal conflict," Muskilda Zancada, the MSF head of mission in Syria, was quoted as saying in the statement. "Our medical teams are working under unimaginably difficult conditions and given the severity of the crisis we have decided to focus on emergency lifesaving interventions. In the last week we have seen nearly 700 patients in the Emergency Room, including 24 war-wounded."

In its statement, the MSF calls on all warring parties to respect civilian lives and health facilities.

The organization calls on Turkey and the European Union to make joint efforts to find a "humane solution" to the situation and move to ensure people's safety at the Syrian-Turkish border rather than focus on returning Syrian refugees to Turkey.