While the world celebrated the arrival of 2024, communities in north-west Syria saw the continuation of another year embroiled in conflict. Syria somberly marks 13 years of conflict on 15 March.

In 2024, 4.2 million people in north-west Syria depend on humanitarian assistance to meet their most basic needs - the majority are women and children. 86 per cent of the population require protection assistance while nearly 80 per cent of the population require health assistance – a third of them under the “catastrophic” category which is the worst in severity.

After 13 years of conflict, coupled with continuing deteriorating economic conditions and food shortages, families are increasingly pushed to the edge of breaking point. Nearly half of households in north-west Syria reported loss of job or unemployment as a barrier to meeting basic needs.

There are now 3.4 million internally displaced people (IDPs), marking an increase of over 500,000 people from last year. As of the end of February, some 43,000 people who were displaced by the earthquakes have not returned home including some 40,000 people residing in 70 reception centers. Living conditions remain harsh in over 1,500 displacement camps and informal sites where 2 million people live and are exposed to constant threats of flooding in winter and extreme heat in summer. Nearly 60 per cent of camp and informal site residents are children.

Syrian children are bearing the brunt of this crisis.

A whole generation of children – now teenagers – have grown up knowing only war and displacement. The mental toll of the crisis was further stretched by last year’s earthquakes. Today, 89 per cent of over 2 million children in north-west Syria require child protection assistance including psychosocial support and tailored services to safeguard from violence, abuse, neglect, exploitation and other harmful practices. As many as 1.5 million children, adolescent girls and pregnant and lactating women in north-west Syria require nutrition assistance.

The conflict also has a devastating impact on children’s education. At least 1 million school-aged children do not go to school in north-west Syria. According to the Humanitarian Needs Overview, Idleb has the highest percentage of out-of-school children among all governorates in Syria. Those who do have access to education, whether formal or non-formal, have their learning frequently disrupted by hostilities and temporary displacements.

“We are living in camps where there is barely any food, water or anything else,” said 55-year-old Hamida who shares a tent with her family in Sarmada.

She looked back on 2023 as a “terrible year” with people losing their loved ones to the earthquakes on top of constant fear of hostilities.

Last October saw an escalation of hostilities in Idleb and western Aleppo that temporarily displaced over 120,000 people. This was the most significant escalation in north-west Syria since 2019. More than 100 people were killed, nearly 40 per cent were children, and over 440 others were injured, according to local health authorities. While incidents have largely shifted to frontline areas by mid-January 2024, they continue to be reported almost daily.

“I only wish that everyone could safely return to their towns and villages and nothing more,” grieved Hamid.

The 2023 Humanitarian Response Plan for Syria was 38 per cent funded by the end of last year, making it the least funded plan in the history of the response.

The cross-border operation remains a lifeline, reaching millions of people each month with aid and protection services. However, the scale of needs in north-west Syria has consistently outweighed the capacity of the response. Funding cuts in 2023 have affected all clusters, leading to the suspension of various humanitarian activities and services. The humanitarian community is adapting to the uncertainty of the 2024 funding landscape but underfunding and the resulting reduction in assistance have a significant human cost.

What’s at stake?

Malnourished children are missing out on therapeutic feeding: The dietary patterns of children aged 6–23 months in Syria have deteriorated over the past five years, with only 1 in 10 children consuming a Minimum Acceptable Diet in 2023. In the north-west, the prevalence of child wasting has increased from 0.7 per cent in 2019 to 4.1 per cent in 2023. 20 per cent of children are stunted, an irreversible condition, which has been the same prevalence for seven years. According to the Nutrition Cluster, funding shortages have already forced the suspension of nutrition interventions, including Outpatient Therapeutic Feeding Programmes (OTPs) aimed at treating severely malnourished children. As of January 2024, 95 OTPs were running – a decrease from 128 programmes in October of the previous year. The number of Rapid Response Teams has also dropped from 154 to 78 by January 2024, falling short of the 200 teams estimated necessary for the response.

A generation of children are missing out on education: In 2024, 1 million school-aged children are out of school– this includes an increase of 200,000 children following the earthquakes. Nearly 60 per cent of camps and IDP sites do not have schools or education centers. Persistent underfunding, unpredictable hostilities and economic hardships have significantly impacted education activities throughout 2023. According to the Education Cluster, 54 education facilities reported suspension or closure in the last quarter due to funding shortages. Meanwhile, frequent teacher strikes, driven by insufficient wages, led to further loss of learning hours. The Cluster also reported that hostility attacks impacted 38 education facilities since last October.

Women and girls are missing out on safe spaces with protection services: Services in 35 Women and Girls Safe Spaces (WGSS) were disrupted by funding constraints throughout 2023 while 17 WGSS have closed down, reported the Protection Cluster. In the last quarter of 2023 alone,1,049 gender-based violence survivors across north-west Syria sought services such as safe shelters, medical support, specialized mental health and child protection which were not available in the different locations where gender-based violence services are currently being provided.

Displacement camps are forgotten: Overcrowded camps and displacement sites, where the majority of residents are women and children, are some of the most affected areas with heightened protection risks. The situation was worsened after the earthquakes due to the influx of newly displaced individuals. The Camp Coordination and Camp Management (CCCM)Cluster reported a funding gap of 69 per cent in 2023 which has strained the Cluster’s ability to cover emergency response. 657 out of over 1,500 camps identified by the Cluster are already over five-year old and urgently need improvement including rehabilitation of properties, roads and communal facilities damaged by floods and storms.

Vulnerable families are missing out on winter assistance: The 2023-2024 Winterization and Flood Preparedness Response Plan, which targets 2.1 million people, was less than a quarter funded by the end of January. Out of the total plan, 25 members under the Shelter/Non-Food Items (SNFI) Cluster reported winter plans, with a total appeal of $71 million, of which only $28.5 million has been secured. This meant that only 860,000 individuals could be targeted, leaving a gap of over 1 million people at risk of harsh winter conditions. According to the Health Cluster, respiratory infection cases among children under five years old have reached a record high this winter since five years.

The Syria 2024 Humanitarian Needs Overview (HNO) is now out!

“Humanitarian needs in Syria continue to rise inexorably. Escalating violence in 2023, violations of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) and International Human Rights Law (IHRL), have led to further displacement and suffering. The socioeconomic situation has continued to deteriorate, further exacerbated by the February earthquakes, negatively impacting social cohesion, and amplifying vulnerabilities. The effects of economic deterioration and lack of livelihood opportunities further expose women and girls to the risk of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (SEA) and other forms of Gender-Based Violence (GBV) in the effort of accessing food and job opportunities. In 2024, 16.7 million people are expected to require assistance, the largest number ever since the beginning of the crisis in 2011.”

Click here to read the full HNO

Over a year has passed since a 7.7 magnitude first struck southern Türkiye and Syria on 6 February.

More than 56,000 people tragically lost their lives in both countries, making it the deadliest disaster in 2023. In Syria, the north-west was particularly affected given its proximity to the epicenter in southern Türkiye. Over 4,500 deaths, 10,400 injuries and 10,600 damaged buildings were recorded across Idleb and northern Aleppo. By the end of March 2023, over 108,000 people in north-west Syria have been displaced by the earthquakes alone. Today, as many as 43,000 displaced individuals have not returned home. The majority (40,500 IDPs) reside in 70 reception centers while nearly 3,100 IDPs are in camps and informal sites.

The UN and its partners have since scaled up the cross-border response, making use of three border-crossings (Bab Al-Hawa, Bab Al-Salam and Al Ra’ee) to deliver assistance and protection services in north-west Syria. The Syria Cross-border Humanitarian Fund (SCHF) was amongst the first funding mechanisms to provide support, allocating US$39 million three weeks after the actual event. In total, $106 million was allocated for the earthquake response out of a total of $140 million allocated in 2023.

By May 2023, the earthquake response, which by then progressed from its emergency phase to early recovery, was folded into the Humanitarian Response Plan.

Consequently, the funding ask also increased from $4.8 billion at the start of the year to $5.4 billion. By July, key strategic plans, such as the early recovery strategy and the Action Plan on Dignified Shelters, were updated by the humanitarian community, taking into account the impact of the earthquakes.

By the end of 2023, 317 UN cross-border missions had been conducted from Türkiye to north-west Syria, allowing UN personnel to be closer than ever to local partners and communities. More than half a million cubic meters of earthquake debris were removed, reported the Early Recovery and Livelihood Cluster. A third of of this debris was recycled and repurposed for road rehabilitation and other community uses. Over 83,000 earthquake-affected people were supported with shelter rehabilitation and more than 180 education facilities (133 in Idleb and 51 in northern Aleppo) were rehabilitated in affected areas, among other support.

Various events were held in February by the humanitarian community in memory of lives lost to the earthquakes. Nearly 100 aid workers serving the cross-border response were killed on both sides of the border.

On 7 February, a UN delegation, led by Oliver Smith, Head of UNHCR's office and on behalf of the UN Deputy Regional Humanitarian Coordinator (DRHC), participated in a commemoration event with communities in Jandairis. This town alone made up over a fifth of the earthquake death toll in north-west Syria. The delegation also visited a child protection center supported by Bahar Organization. Two days prior, on 5 February, a UN delegation, led by OCHA, paid tribute to the loss of lives at a cemetery for earthquake victims in Dana and GOAL’s office in Harim as the NGO with the highest death toll of aid workers. The first Humanitarian Information Sharing Meeting in Arabic (HISMA) of the year was held at the last leg of the visit, chaired by OCHA, with the participation of over 100 NGOs.

On 25 January, the DRHC, David Carden, led an interagency mission to northern Aleppo to assess the response ahead of this one-year mark. The delegation, comprised of OCHA, UNHCR, WHO and UNDSS, first stopped by “The Hope Center,” a physical rehabilitation center in Azaz supported by Physicians Across Continents (PAC) and WHO. The center treated over 23,000 people affected by the earthquakes with physical therapy and other rehabilitation services. This was followed by a visit to a community center in Azaz, supported by Shafak Organization and UNHCR, that offers psychosocial and legal services where the delegation met with community leaders and protection network members.

In Jandairis, they stopped by the town’s cultural center which has been rehabilitated with a new ceiling, chairs and lighting, and spoke with two shop owners who received business grants. This comprehensive support was provided by Shafak Organization under an early recovery project funded by the SCHF to strengthen community resilience after the disaster.

“We spoke to many communities today and what they need is jobs,” said Carden at the conclusion of the visit.

He noted however that the humanitarian community is facing a “very difficult funding situation” with 2023’s Humanitarian Response Plan for Syria being funded for only over a third of its requirements.

“It's having an impact on food distributions, on the ability to rehabilitate water points and on the support provided to hospitals,” he added.

• The use of Bab Al-Hawa for UN cross-border aid delivery and missions has been extended for an additional six months until 13 July 2024. The use of Bab Al-Salm and Al Ra’ee has been extended for an additional three months until 13 May 2024.

• UN personnel are continuing to cross to north-west Syria every week. As of 14 March, nearly 400 cross-border missions have been completed since the earthquakes struck – 81 missions since the start of 2024. Most have been for programme monitoring, assessments and engagements with partners to strengthen operational coordination.

• Efforts to strengthen local coordination are ongoing to bring operational coordination closer to the response and communities. Field focal points have been identified for most Clusters and OCHA is holding regular meetings with them in Idleb and northern Aleppo. The last local coordination meeting was held on 12 March in Azaz.

• Underfunding has impacted the number of trucks particularly as WFP historically made up the bulk of this figure. Since the start of 2024, less than 100 trucks carrying UN aid have crossed from Türkiye to north-west Syria carrying aid provided by FAO, IOM, UNFPA, UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP and WHO, as of 14 March. In addition to the physical delivery of aid items, critical services in protection, health, among others, are ongoing on the ground.