66’000 displaced in northern Syria battle

The agency said on Sunday that 39,766 people have been forced out of their homes in the Syrian city of al-Bab and the nearby town of Tadif which Turkish forces are trying to control.

Displaced people have fled north to militant-controlled areas where "high contamination" of unexploded bombs and booby traps planted by retreating terrorists is further complicating the situation, it added.

Turkey launched a major military incursion into Syria in August 2016 in a move denounced by Damascus as a breach of its sovereignty.

Ankara claimed at the time that its military campaign was aimed at stopping Kurdish advances and driving away Daesh from the Turkish-Syrian border but since then it has occupied at least two major Syrian cities.

Turkey has lately announced plans to advance into the Syrian city of Manbij after seizing al-Bab. Manbij is currently held by the so-called Syria Democratic Forces (SDF), a US-backed outfit of mostly Kurdish militants.

Additionally, OCHA estimated that 26,000 people have left their homes east of al-Bab, where Syrian government forces are engaged in an offensive against Daesh.

The Syrian army troops and allied fighters have been fighting against different foreign-backed terrorist groups wreaking havoc in the Arab country since 2011.

More than half of Syria’s population have been displaced over the past six years.

KD