Mercy Corps: Syria's Aleppo City On The Verge Of Siege

PORTLAND, Ore., Feb. 4, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Intensified fighting and air strikes in and around Aleppo City in Syria have cut off the main – and most direct – humanitarian route into that city, according to the global organization Mercy Corps. Since yesterday (Wednesday), the organization's operations in northern Syria have effectively been sliced in half.

"We are cut off from Aleppo City," says David Evans, Mercy Corps' regional program director for the Middle East. "It feels like a siege of Aleppo is about to begin."

Syria's civil war has left many civilians inside the country completely reliant on humanitarian assistance. With one of the largest food delivery operations in north Syria, Mercy Corps has been reaching up to 500,000 people per month.

"Innocent civilians are running for their lives," says Evans. "Right now, we are seeing tens of thousands of people make their way to the border with Turkey." Mercy Corps' partners in Syria are positioned along the border and meeting refugees with food baskets and other supplies as they arrive.

Mercy Corps and its partner aid organizations continue their strong appeal for a productive peace process and the cessation of bombing of civilian targets. Most important, Mercy Corps is calling for continued and sustained humanitarian access to innocent civilians in all parts of the country.

To learn more, join us at mercycorps.org.

ABOUT MERCY CORPS

• Global organization powered by the belief a better world is possible
• Working on the toughest challenges in over 40 countries around the world
• 42 million people benefiting from Mercy Corps' humanitarian assistance and economic development programs
• About 4,000 team members; in the field, 92 percent are from the countries where they work
• Over five years, average 87 percent of revenue channeled directly into programs; $382.6 million in operating revenue in FY2014
  Founded in 1979

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SOURCE Mercy Corps