We at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) are working across the front lines in Syria to help millions of needy people, despite escalating violence and worsening security conditions. If allowed, we could do much more to reduce the suffering of civilians, but it is increasingly difficult for us to enter contested areas and assist Syrians, let alone to protect them.
Three ICRC staff members who were abducted Oct. 13 in Idlib, in northern Syria, are still being held by an armed group. This has forced us to restrict our movement in some areas. Repeated requests to Syrian authorities to enter Moadamiyeh and other towns under siege around Damascus have gone unanswered.
Volunteers from our partners at the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) regularly come under attack while attempting to deliver food, blankets and other supplies or to evacuate the wounded. Recently a SARC ambulance came under fire in the southern town of Daraa; in a separate attack, a SARC volunteer lost his legs.
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