DAMASCUS, April 2 (Xinhua) -- Syria continues to face one of the world's largest displacement crises, with about 5.5 million people displaced, while 13.3 million people face food insecurity, including 7.2 million suffering severe shortages, senior UN officials said here Thursday.
At a press briefing, Tom Fletcher, UN undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, and Alexander De Croo, administrator of the UN Development Programme, joined Syria's foreign affairs official Qutaiba Qadish in calling for sustained international support for Syria.
Fletcher said Syria has made progress in recent months but warned that humanitarian conditions remain severe after more than a decade of war. According to a UN estimate, 15.6 million people in Syria require humanitarian assistance this year.
Fletcher also pointed out that global funding cuts are affecting humanitarian efforts worldwide.
"We are facing a sustained funding crisis globally," he said, citing major reductions in U.S. and European funding. "We are responding by prioritizing harder."
The overall humanitarian response in 2026 will require nearly 2.9 billion U.S. dollars, according to the UN estimate.
Prior to the briefing, the UN officials had high-level consultations with Syria's interim leader Ahmed al-Sharaa and foreign chief Asaad Shaibani, as part of ongoing coordination on humanitarian response and recovery efforts. ■
