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The mission of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is to mobilize and coordinate effective and principled humanitarian action in partnership with national and international actors. reminder that it is ordinary women, men and children who continue to bear the brunt of this conflict. Living conditions in all areas of the country continue to deteriorate sharply. Entire neighbourhoods and communities at risk from explosive weapons; over 11 million in need of health assistance, including 25,000 trauma cases per month; nearly nine million people unable to meet their basic food needs; 70 per cent of the population without regular access to safe drinking water amid continuing water cuts; schools and hospitals attacked; rampant poverty and unemployment amidst rising prices. Winter is fast approaching and is likely to further exacerbate the situation for many families. The United Nations and its humanitarian partners will continue to respond to the growing needs to the best of their ability. While we are reaching millions of people per month, we continue to try and find ways to scale-up life-saving assistance throughout Syria in an extremely complex and insecure environment. Humanitarian workers are putting their lives on the line, but remain undeterred. I strongly encourage donors to maintain, and where possible, increase their generous support for life-saving humanitarian operations, as well as recovery and resilience activities, in 2016. As I have said to this Council before, the crisis urgently requires a political solution which addresses the root causes of the conflict and meets the aspirations of the Syrian people who have suffered for far too long. In the absence of such a solution, I sincerely hope that the Council and relevant Member States will continue to use their influence with the parties to the conflict to remind them to uphold their obligations under international humanitarian and human rights law, to distinguish between civilians and combatants, and to take all feasible precautions to avoid further civilian injury and loss of life. Thank you