A 27-year-old Syrian woman has given birth to quintuplets in northern Syria weeks after fleeing her home in neighbouring Iraq on foot, UNHCR office reported.

Tamam, an ethnic Yazidi, gave birth by Caesarean section last Thursday at a hospital in the city of Qamishli. The doctors said she and the babies are all in good health.

The woman, a Syrian national, is among tens of thousands of people who have fled violence in northern Iraq since June, including many who have sought shelter in Syria. They include tens of thousands of Yazidis from Iraq's Sinjar area.

Tamam moved to the city of Mosul last year after marrying an Iraqi man.

“We had to walk for two days before we reached the [Syrian] border,” she said, adding that she and her husband were with seven other Yazidi families and only had a bottle of water to share.

UNHCR has provided her with nappies, sanitary napkins and a cash grant.