1.5M Syrians Need Food, Shelter: Red Cross

As the crisis in Syria shows no signs of abating, the Red Cross warns that 1.5 million people lack the very essentials: food, water, shelter, power, and sanitation. Tens of thousands in the country have either moved in with other people or are living in public buildings, and about 100,000 "particularly vulnerable" people are being fed by the Red Cross, the AP reports.

The alarming numbers come as the uprising has turned into mostly local guerrilla fighting and bomb attacks rather than the "big battles" the country used to see, explains a Red Cross exec. The Red Cross is pushing for access to Syrian prisons, in an attempt to determine how many are detained. The report comes ahead of Kofi Annan's pledge to deploy 300 truce monitors to the country by month's end. (More Syria stories.)