IAN Blackford is calling on Boris Johnson to urgently take action to help secure a ceasefire in Syria as the crisis in Idlib escalates.
The north-western city has become the epicentre of what the UK’s largest Syria-focused aid agency, Syria Relief, has described as a “humanitarian catastrophe”.
Approximately one million Syrians, primarily women and children, have fled to the region to escape heavy fighting in other parts of the country. They are facing extremely low temperatures and the threat of bombardment in overcrowded camps on the Syria-Turkey border, with reports emerging of infants freezing to death.
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Blackford recently raised the displacement and reports of babies dying due to extreme cold during Prime Minister’s Questions and has now written to Johnson, describing the human cost for the continuation of this unsustainable situation as “morally untenable”.
The letter also calls on the Prime Minister to release urgent funding for humanitarian groups working in the region.
The SNP Westminster leader commented: “My message to the Prime Minister is simple: It’s time to act now.
“The humanitarian crisis in Syria is at a crisis point. Hundreds of thousands of lives have been lost and many more displaced, infrastructure has been destroyed and people are left desperate for food, water and shelter.”
The SNP MP’s demand comes after the UN Special envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, warned last week that there is a clear potential for further mass displacement and “even more catastrophic human suffering”.
READ MORE: Syria: What's at stake as a new humanitarian crisis unfolds
Blackford continued: “It is morally untenable for this unsustainable situation to continue – the human cost alone should shame us all. It’s time for Boris Johnson to step up to his responsibilities and secure a ceasefire at this crucial moment.”
He added: “The SNP has raised the plight of Syrians caught up in the conflict with the Prime Minister innumerable times – but securing access for humanitarian groups working in the region to provide aid to those in need could not be more pressing.”
The conflict has claimed more than 380,000 lives since civil war erupted in 211. This week, the UK Permanent Representative to the UN Karen Pierce called for an “immediate, genuine and lasting ceasefire”.
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