UN relief chief to visit Syria, Lebanon
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E-mail Xinhua, August 14, 2012
UN humanitarian relief chief Valerie Amos will visit Syria on Tuesday to discuss how to help Syrian civilians affected by the ongoing conflict in the Middle East country, which has been plunged in a 17-month crisis, the deputy UN spokesman Eduardo del Buey, announced here Monday.
"(UN) Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos will visit Syria and Lebanon," del Buey said at a daily news briefing. "Her three-day visit from 14-16 August aims to underscore the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Syria and the conflict's impact on the people of Syria and those who have fled to Lebanon and to other neighboring countries."
In Syria, Amos will discuss with Syrian authorities, the Syrian Arab Red Crescent and others about how to urgently scale up relief efforts and reduce the suffering of civilians caught up in the fighting, del Buey said.
In Lebanon, she is scheduled to meet families who have fled from Syria and to hold talks with the government and humanitarian agencies over how to best support the refugees.
Asked about the movement of arms across the borders to or from Syria, del Buey said that UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon " continues to believe that the further militarization of the conflict is not helpful."
Ban "continues to call for an end to all fighting" in the country, he said.
