U.N. official: Syrian humanitarian crisis worsening

DAMASCUS, Syria, Aug. 18 (UPI) -- United Nations humanitarian official Stephen O'Brien, on his first trip to Syria, said he was "horrified" by the civil war's indiscriminate killing.

In Damascus at the end of a three-day trip, O'Brien, the U.N. Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, commented Monday, "I am absolutely horrified by the total disregard for civilian life by all parties in this conflict. Attacks on civilians are unlawful, unacceptable and must stop. I appeal to every party engaged in violence and fighting to protect civilians and to respect international humanitarian law."

At least 250,000 people have died, one million have been injured and half of Syria's population of 22 million has been displaced since the war's start in 2011, he noted, adding that historic sites have been destroyed as well. In the city of Homs, he said, "almost every home" in the Old City section "had been completely destroyed."

O'Brien said unnamed armed groups, of which there are many in Syria, cut water supplies to Damascus' population of five million, and to two million in Aleppo.

He called on the international community to donate more humanitarian aid, noting the U.N. appeal is only 30 percent funded in 2015. "It's vital that we say that this is unacceptable, and we've got to uphold humanitarian law," O'Brien said.

The United States is, by far, the largest donor to the Syrian humanitarian cause, providing $4.2 billion in donations and other aid since 2012, the U.S. Agency for International Development reported.