Syria

Reduced water levels in the Euphrates River has wide-ranging humanitarian impacts for millions of people in Syria, including their access to water and electricity. IMPACT/REACH has produced a thorough Situation Overview on both the context and the impact of this looming disaster.

Displacement associated with disasters and the effects of climate change is one of today’s most serious humanitarian and development issue. In the first half of 2020 alone, disasters triggered 9.8 million new displacements, and most were linked to weather-related hazards such as storms, floods and droughts. In northwest Syria, extreme flooding events are devastating families already reeling from ten years of violence conflict, displacement, economic ruin, and the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

To respond to the unbearable situation of the 900,000 people who have fled their homes from conflict and violence in Northwest Syria, REACH has activated the Emergency Needs Tracking (ENT) system to assess and monitor the vital needs of extremely vulnerable communities.

Shelling and airstrikes forced over 300,000 people to flee their homes in Syria between May and June. Many families have been escaping grave danger in their own country for the second or third time since the conflict’s onset nine years ago. Today, potential destinations for those seeking safety are becoming increasingly limited.

Over eight years of destructive conflict has taken a heavy toll on Syria’s economy. Massive internal displacement, emigration and mortality have greatly weakened the population, out of which more than half are estimated to be in the need of assistance. With this in mind, REACH conducted an in-depth cash and markets assessment across northeast Syria to better understand the feasibility and implications of scaling up cash-based interventions.

Vulnerabilities mount and an already strained humanitarian response is forced to stretch to new limits as fires turn crops to ashes in northwest Syria. The fires come right at harvest season and are expected to worsen food security in the months to come.

Southern Idleb and northern Hama, part of the last opposition-held territory in Syria, have seen renewed intensification of conflict. Due to the intensity of escalation and the seizing of key opposition-held areas, the ongoing clashes could develop into a final offensive which is feared to spiral into one of the worst humanitarian tragedies of the 21st century.

Today marks one year since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, an event which has triggered a humanitarian crisis of immense scale. The conflict has caused widespread forced displacement, including  more than 5.3 million people reported to be displaced from their homes inside Ukraine, and over 8 million refugees recorded across Europe – nearly one-third of […]