Syria Crisis

Syria Map
Source: OCHA/ReliefWeb

The country

Syria (officially the Syrian Arab Republic) is a state in the Middle East with access to the Mediterranean Sea that gained independence from France in 1946. The state's capital is Damascus. The country shares land borders with Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, and Iraq. Syria covers an area of 187,437 square kilometers. As of 2024, the country has an estimated population of around 23.2 million people.

The humanitarian situation

The Syrian conflict is one of the largest and most complex humanitarian crises worldwide, inflicting enormous human suffering on people inside and outside the country. The people of Syria have been subjected to massive and systematic violations of international humanitarian and human rights law. Since 2011, hundreds of thousands of Syrians have been killed and maimed, and millions have been forced to flee their homes. 

On December 8, 2024, Syria experienced a dramatic and historic turn of events when rebel forces took control of the capital Damascus and President Bashar Assad resigned and fled the country after a swift 11-day rebel offensive across the country, raising hopes of an end to the nearly 14-year civil war.

The rebel offensive across the country, led by the non-state armed group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and supported by factions of the Syrian National Army (SNA), resulted in the capture of the capital Damascus and other strategic cities in north-west and central Syria. More than 370,000 people have been displaced in a matter of days in north-west Syria following the sudden and massive rebel offensive into government-held areas. Hundreds of civilians have reportedly been killed as a result of the hostilities and aerial bombardment.

The ongoing conflict in several parts of Syria continues to leave people living in fear of attacks and at risk of renewed displacement. While protracted conflict in some parts of the country, record high food prices, socio-economic deterioration, ongoing displacement, climatic shocks and disease continue to exacerbate humanitarian needs, more than two-thirds of the Syrian population are in need of humanitarian assistance. The conflict has damaged or destroyed much of the country's infrastructure.

According to estimates, the Syrian civil war has resulted in the deaths of more than 600,000 people. More than thirteen years of conflict in Syria have led to extreme suffering and one of two largest displacement crises in the world - the other being the Sudanese civil war - with more than 13.6 million people fleeing their homes.

While 7.2 million women, men and children are internally displaced in their own country, the ongoing civil war has resulted in more than 6.4 million Syrian refugees, mostly in Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan. Neighboring Turkey hosts the largest number of Syrian refugees, currently around 3.2 million. Germany is the largest non-neighboring host country, with more than 700,000 refugees from Syria.

Syria, a country that used to be self-sufficient in food, is one of the six most food insecure countries in the world, according to the World Food Programme (WFP). After thirteen years of conflict, 12 million people are acutely food insecure. Another 2.9 million are at risk of hunger, meaning that 65 percent of the population could soon be unable to feed their families.

2.5 million people are severely food insecure, and their lives are at risk without food assistance. Child and maternal malnutrition is increasing at an unprecedented rate. More than 650,000 children under the age of five show signs of stunting due to severe malnutrition, and one-third of the country's children live in food poverty - consuming two or fewer food groups per day. WFP provides monthly assistance to nearly seven million people.

The UN estimates that in 2024, some 16.7 million people are in need of life-saving and life-sustaining humanitarian assistance and protection. After more than a decade of conflict, children continue to pay the highest price. 6.5 million children in Syria are in need of humanitarian assistance. While half a million boys and girls are chronically malnourished, the majority of Syrian children have experienced nothing but violent conflict.

Meanwhile, the economic situation in Syria is becoming increasingly dire, with an estimated 90 percent of the population living in poverty.  The worsening economic situation is pushing already vulnerable communities deeper into hardship and insecurity. Freezing temperatures and recurring heat waves continue to put lives at risk, including the 2 million people living in camps in north-west Syria. Some 800,000 people living in tents, often in overcrowded conditions, are particularly vulnerable to extreme temperatures.

Following the escalation of the Israeli war on Lebanon between September 23 and November 27, 2024, more than 557,000 Lebanese and Syrians fled in desperation from Lebanon to Syria.

The lasting effects of the February 2023 earthquakes also exacerbated humanitarian needs. On February 6, 2023, two of the region's most powerful earthquakes in more than 100 years, measuring 7.8 and 7.7 on the Richter scale, struck southeastern Turkey near the Syrian border.

At least 18 million people were directly affected by the devastating earthquakes, which killed more than 60,000 women, men and children and injured more than 114,000 in Turkey and Syria. At least 300,000 buildings were destroyed or severely damaged, leaving many people homeless and in urgent need of humanitarian assistance, including large numbers of Syrian refugees on Turkish soil.

The earthquakes also severely affected northwestern Syria, a region where 4.2 million people already depended on humanitarian assistance to survive. According to the United Nations, 8.8 million people in Syria were directly affected by the devastating earthquakes and required humanitarian assistance. Particularly in the north-west of the country, the effects of the earthquake, coupled with more than 13 years of conflict, have made reconstruction an extremely difficult task.

At least 6,795 people lost their lives in Syria - with reports as high as 8,476 - and nearly 15,000 were injured. At least 2,248 earthquake-related deaths were recorded in government-held areas. In rebel-held areas, the earthquakes killed at least 4,547 people, injured more than 10,000, and damaged more than 10,000 buildings. The cities of Aleppo, Latakia, and Hama were hardest hit. The earthquakes displaced an estimated 500,000 people and damaged or destroyed thousands of health facilities, homes, schools and water networks. The infrastructure and economy, already torn apart by the war, were further damaged.

A cholera outbreak was declared by the Syrian government on September 10, 2022. By December 2023, there were more than 184,000 confirmed or suspected cases of cholera across the country, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

The 2024 Syria Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) called for US $4.4 billion to reach some 13 million people with humanitarian assistance. As of December, however, the UN's humanitarian appeal for people inside the country was only 31 percent funded. 
The Syria Regional Refugee and Resilience Plan 2024 (3RP), led by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), sought $5.7 billion to reach 12.9 million people in Syria's neighboring countries. The 3RP aims to reach some 6.3 million refugees, asylum-seekers and stateless people, as well as more than 6.6 million members of host communities, but was only 29 percent funded as of December.

The revised 2023 Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) for Syria required US$5.4 billion, but as of February 2024, it was only 38 percent funded – the worst-funded response plan since the start of the conflict. Only 6.8 million people (48 percent) of the target population had been reached last year. The 2023 Regional Refugee and Resilience Plan (3RP), which covered refugees and host communities across the region, appealed for $5.77 billion and was only 14 percent funded as of February 2024.

The United Nations appealed for $4.44 billion in funding for the Syrian crisis in 2022. As of December 2022, only $2.11 billion had been received from donors (47 percent funded).

Syria LocationThe security situation

The Syrian conflict is an ongoing, multi-faceted civil war that is being fought on Syrian territory between Syrian government forces and various domestic and foreign warring factions that, in various combinations, oppose both the Syrian government and each other. Until December 8, 2024, the government was controlled by President Bashar Assad, who has since resigned and fled the country.

Influenced by larger popular uprisings elsewhere in the Arab region, the unrest in Syria began in March 2011 out of dissatisfaction with the Syrian government and eventually escalated into armed conflict after protests calling for Assad's ouster were violently suppressed.

A number of foreign states, including Russia, Turkey, Iran, and the United States, have either intervened directly in the conflict or supported one faction or another. In the past, the conflict has been largely defined by three military campaigns: violence between the Syrian government and opposing forces, US attempts to defeat the Islamic State, and Turkey's military operations against Syrian Kurds.

The Syrian government, with Russian and Iranian support, regained control of many areas from opposition forces by 2020. After the Syrian government reestablished control over most of the country, violence subsided. Opposition forces maintained limited control in Idlib in north-western Syria and along the Iraqi-Syrian border in the north-east. In the northwest, a ceasefire between government and opposition forces has been in place since March 2020. In the northeast, a ceasefire was agreed in October 2019.

For four years, the fronts had been largely frozen, but the international community had so far failed to take advantage of the window of opportunity offered by the relative calm to launch a credible political process. Negotiations between the Syrian government and opposition forces had failed to resolve the conflict.

While mediation has been stalled for years, the UN has been involved in trying to end the Syrian conflict since it began in 2011. Security Council Resolution 2254 in 2015 laid out a roadmap for a Syrian-owned and Syrian-led process, with UN facilitation, to reach a political solution.

On November 27, 2024, multiple rebel groups aligned under the leadership of the non-state armed group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) launched the biggest challenge to President Bashar Assad's rule in years. The opposition forces made stunning gains in just over a week, first taking the north-west city of Aleppo and then towns and villages in the Idlib Governorate.

Emboldened, armed groups advanced on the central city of Hama and then Homs, which they captured. These rapid developments marked a major turning point in the Syrian conflict. On December 7, 2024, rebel forces made further significant advances across the country, reportedly aided by rebel groups joining from the south, and made their way to the capital.

On December 8, 2024, HTS announced the fall of Assad in a statement broadcast live on Syrian state television, saying it was the beginning of a new era for the country torn apart by nearly 14 years of civil war. The ousting effectively ends the government's control over the country and more than 50 years of Baath Party rule. The Assad family had been in control of Syria since 1971, first Hafez Assad and then his son Bashar Assad.

Hours after Syrian rebel forces announced the overthrow of the authoritarian government, the Syrian National Army (SNA), a coalition of Turkish-backed militias, launched attacks in northern Syria in areas under the control of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which are backed by the United States.

The United Nations has called for calm and the avoidance of violence following the sudden and stunning fall of Syria's authoritarian government to rebel forces. Syrian Prime Minister Mohammed Ghazi Jalali has called for free elections and agreed to a peaceful transition.

Syria now stands at a turning point in its history, with immense challenges ahead. However, the fall of the Assad government raises hopes for an end to the civil war and a resolution to one of the world's largest humanitarian crises.

Donations

Your donation for the Syria emergency can help United Nations agencies, international humanitarian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and their local partners to rapidly provide water, food, medicine, shelter and other aid to the people who need it most.

To find other organizations to which you can donate, visit: Humanitarian Crisis Relief, Refugees and IDPs, Children in Need, Hunger and Food Insecurity, Medical Humanitarian Aid, Vulnerable Groups, Faith-Based Humanitarian Organizations, and Human Rights Organizations.

Further information

Last updated: 09/12/2024

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