1m people displaced in Syria: OCHA

UNITED NATIONS - The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported Monday that up to 1 million people have been internally displaced since conflict began in Syria.

OCHA said that violence has engulfed large parts of Damascus, the capital of Syria, causing new patterns of displacement.

"Increasingly, people are being displaced for a second time, as former safe havens become affected by military operations," it said.

OCHA warned that the outlook for food insecurity is grim. People have been forced to leave their homes and livelihood due to the crisis, which negatively impacted employment, crops and livestock.

There are increasing reports of hospitals in areas of conflict being closed, damaged, surrounded and sometimes occupied by security forces, and/or lacking medical supplies, the humanitarian office said.

"Fear of detention reportedly leaves some people reluctant to seek assistance and ambulances have repeatedly come under fire while recovering the injured," it added.

Syria has been witnessing violent clashes since March 201 when anti-government protests broke out in the country. The unrest has claimed the lives of some 12,000 people, including a large number of government troops, according to the most recent UN tally.