DAMASCUS, Syria, Aug. 14 (UPI) -- As many as 2 million people in Syria are affected by the fighting there and another 1 million are internally displaced, the U.N. humanitarian agency said.
Valerie Amos, the humanitarian relief coordinator for the United Nations, arrived Tuesday in Syria for a three-day visit to the region.
Her office, in a statement, said the humanitarian situation in Syria has deteriorated as violence spreads to Damascus and Aleppo, the largest city in the country.
"Two million people are now estimated to have been affected by the crisis and over one million have been internally displaced," her office said. "More than 140,000 people have fled the violence and crossed into Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and Iraq."
The British foreign secretary announced Friday that nearly $8 million in non-lethal aid would back the political opposition and fund humanitarian and medical assistance efforts in Syria.
The U.S. State Department announced last week it was pursuing "every available avenue" to secure humanitarian access to civilians caught up in the Syrian conflict. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced from Turkey that Washington was providing $5.5 million to humanitarian efforts in Syria.
