HIGHLIGHTS

• Mounting concerns that public health crisis may aggravate Syria humanitarian situation. 420,000 Palestine refugees unable to meet basic needs.
• UN inter-agency cross-line assistance to almost 1 million Syrians despite security and access challenges.
• Syrian refugee population up by nearly 1 million people since January.

Faryab is currently the most conflict-affected province in the Northern region. While needs are on the rise, funding has declined and the presence of international humanitarian staff is lower than in previous years.

Armed men in hospitals, harassing patients; health facilities used to identify and apprehend enemies; clinics abandoned and hospitals destroyed. Overwhelmed emergency services, where medical staff are in terror of reprisals for having provided care for a patient; ambulances blocked from accessing the wounded, or held up for hours at checkpoints; entrenched animosities and divisions denying certain groups of people the medical assistance they need.

Statement / Geneva / Damascus - The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement condemns the killing of Abdo Darwish, a driver with the Al-Hassakeh branch of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent who was shot dead on his way to work on 14 May.

Mr Darwish was wearing his Syrian Red Crescent uniform, clearly indicating his affiliation with the Movement, when he was targeted by snipers and shot at.

Highlights

• On 16 May 2013, AFAD - the Disaster and Emergency Management Agency of Government of Turkey announced that the total number of Syrians registered and accommodated in 17 camps in 8 provinces has increased to 194,425 including 336 Syrians receiving medical treatment in hospitals.

16 May 2013 – Additional United Nations peacekeepers are on alert to protect civilians in the town of Pibor in South Sudan’s Jonglei state where the situation remains tense amid recent violence, looting and displacement, the Secretary-General’s spokesperson today said.

“The UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) has a full time presence in Pibor and is continuously monitoring the security situation, particularly in respect to the few remaining residents,” the spokesperson told journalists in New York.

ICRC News Release No. 13/94

Geneva/Sana'a (ICRC) – Three staff members of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) who had been held since the beginning of the week by armed individuals in the vicinity of Ja’ar, in Abyan governorate, are now safely back with their colleagues in Aden.

"We are relieved and extremely happy to have our colleagues back with us," said Cedric Schweizer, who heads the ICRC delegation in Yemen. "We would like to thank all those who gave us their support unconditionally with the aim of getting our colleagues back safe and sound."

Violent incidents against health-care in at least 22 countries in 2012

Geneva (ICRC) – A new study by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), entitled "Violent Incidents Affecting Health Care," reveals that at least 921 violent incidents against health-care personnel, infrastructure and wounded or sick people took place in 2012.

Highlights

• Civilians in Pibor, Jonglei State, again fled the town amid escalating tension and widespread looting of civilian property and humanitarian supplies.

• Around 11, 000 people have fled to Juba following hostilities in Jonglei State.

• Over 18,000 refugees are being relocated to a new camp in Upper Nile State to avoid flooding.