U.N. Humanitarian Chief to Tour Lebanon, Syria

U.N. humanitarian chief Valerie Amos announced Monday that she is to visit Syria and Lebanon amid growing concern for the "deteriorating humanitarian situation" caused by the Syrian conflict.

The visit, planned from August 14 to 16, "aims to draw attention to the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Syria and the impact of the conflict on people either remaining in Syria and who have fled to other countries, including Lebanon," the U.N. office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs (OCHA) said in a statement.

In Lebanon, the under-secretary general for humanitarian affairs will meet families who have fled from Syria and liaise with the government and humanitarian agencies.

While in Syria, Amos is expected to discuss ways of "urgently scaling-up relief efforts and reducing the suffering of civilians caught up in the fighting with the Syrian authorities, the Syrian Arab Red Crescent and other humanitarian partners."

Two million people are now estimated to have been affected by the Syria crisis and more than one million are internally displaced as fighting continues in Damascus, Aleppo and other cities, OCHA said.

More than 140,000 people have fled the violence and crossed into Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and Iraq, according to the U.N. agency.

At least 21,000 people have been killed across Syria since the anti-regime revolt broke out in March 2011, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.