The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Filippo Grandi, said that heavy air strikes in southern Syria were endangering the lives of 750,000 people. In a statement on Thursday, Grandi said: “I am gravely concerned for the civilian population caught in the crossfire in southwest Syria, including airstrikes and heavy shelling. An estimated 750,000 lives are in danger.” He added: “More than 320,000 people are now displaced and most are living in dire and insecure conditions, including some 60,000 people camped at the Nassib border crossing with Jordan.” Grandi called on all parties “to redouble efforts to cease hostilities, to allow humanitarian actors to deliver life-saving assistance, shelter and evacuate the wounded.” “The protection, safety and security of civilians and humanitarian workers is of utmost importance – a core principle of international humanitarian law that needs to be guaranteed by all parties to the conflict and the international community at large,” he stressed.