Millions of Syrians have been internally displaced because of the years-long conflict, many trapped in the northern part of the country where they have been isolated by the fighting and rely almost entirely food aid to stay alive. Now the coronavirus has spread into the region and earlier this month the United Nations voted to stop using one of just two international borders open for aid. Activists say food and medical supplies for civilians are now being used as a weapon of war
A woman who has three children and whose family was displaced twice in the past eight months told Amnesty International: “My daughter, who’s in first grade, is always afraid… She asked me [after we were displaced]: Why doesn’t God kill us?… Nowhere is safe for us.’”
The Russian-backed Syrian government push to capture the Idlib province in northwest Syria has worsened the humanitarian situation as nearly 1 million civilians have been forced to flee eastward to safer locations. VOA’s Zana Omer filed this report from Manbij, Syria
World Food Programme (WFP) is deeply concerned about the safety of civilians caught up in the violence as military operations continue across northeastern Syria, around the towns of Ras al-Ayn in Hasakeh and Tell Abyad in Raqqa
The U.N. human rights office condemns rampant human rights violations in Daraa Governorate in southwest Syria by both government and so-called non-state actors. The agency accuses both parties of flaunting the reconciliation agreement implemented 10 months ago
Syrians who are in search of their missing family members say they are provided with little information when reaching out to officials from SDF and the U.S.-led coalition. Many hope their loved ones could be in refugee camps under the SDF control or IS prisons that were captured recently
Fighting died down in much of the country after President Bashar al-Assad’s forces defeated rebels in bloody battles around the capital and southern Syria, bringing just over 60 percent of the country back under his control. Of the 20,000, only 6,500 were civilians