WHO say northwest Syria of 'greatest concern'

The World Health Organization said on Wednesday it was particularly concerned over the welfare of people in northwestern Syria, an opposition-held region with little access to aid, since the earthquakes struck last week.

"It's clear that the zone of greatest concern at the moment is the area of northwestern Syria," WHO's emergencies director, Mike Ryan, told a briefing in Geneva.

"The impact of the earthquake in areas of Syria controlled by the government is significant, but the services are there and there is access to those people. We have to remember here that in Syria, we've had ten years of war. The health system is amazingly fragile. People have been through hell."

Aid distribution to northwestern has been slow and sparse since the earthquake hit the region last week. At least two attempts to send aid across frontlines into Syria's northwest have been obstructed, but an aid convoy reached the area overnight.