People cheer as they gather a the Karama square to welcome the arrival of rebel fighters from Aleppo and Daraa governorates in the southern Syrian city of Sweida on December 10, 2024. Photo by SHADI AL DUBAISI / AFP.
Geneva: The announcement by the rebels who ousted Syria's president Bashar al-Assad that they had appointed a transitional head of government brings "new hope", the World Health Organisation said Tuesday.
While Syria had been at war for over 13 years, the government's collapse came in a matter of days in a lightning offensive led by Sharaa's Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).
Assad fled Syria as an Islamist-led rebel alliance swept into the capital Damascus on Sunday, ending five decades of brutal rule by his clan.
"The appointment in the last few hours of a transitional government in the Syrian Arab Republic is bringing new hope to a country that has suffered so much," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters in Geneva.
"We hope that this new dawn for Syria will lead to sustained peace."
Syria's ousted strongman cracked down on a pro-democracy movement that erupted in 2011, sparking a war that killed 500,000 people and forced half the country to flee their homes, with millions finding refuge abroad.
Tedros highlighted the impact of HTS's offensive, with an estimated one million people and health facilities in Aleppo "overwhelmed", adding that "90 incidents of attacks on health care have been reported".
"Meeting the health needs of displaced populations and those who may now return to Syria will put more strain on a health system that has already been weakened by (nearly) 14 years of war," he said.
Tedros pointed out that even before the offensive began, "less than two thirds of hospitals and primary care facilities were functional", and nearly "15 million people were already in need of urgent access to care treatment for noncommunicable diseases, maternal and childcare, mental health support".
In light of the growing needs, he said WHO was scaling up efforts to distribute more essential medicines and supplies, and was working to support hospitals.
"Our teams are on the ground to assess the full scope of health needs," he said.
Tedros urged all parties in Syria to "facilitate safe and unimpeded humanitarian operations to reach people in need wherever they are in a country that has suffered so much".
