Highlights
A cessation of hostilities agreement came into effect on 27 February, leading to a reduction in violence across many parts of the country.
Relief operations increased to besieged and hard-to-reach locations, reaching tens of thousands with life-saving aid.
Humanitarian needs among recently displaced IDPs in northern governorates of Aleppo and Idleb, and southern governorates of Dar’a and Quneitra prompted a scale-up among relief actors and an increase in cross-border assistance.
Continued closure of Nuseybin crossing affects humanitarian programming in AlHasakeh governorate.
Unprecedented resources pledged at the London Conference for humanitarian relief activities in Syria remained largely unallocated and undisbursed.
Situation Overview
On 27 February, a nationwide cessation of hostilities came into effect, leading to a decrease in fighting and relative quiet in many areas of Syria. This long-awaited development has been welcomed by people across the country, offering a signal of hope to the Syrian people for an enduring political solution, and affording humanitarian actors vital access to people long cut off from life-saving humanitarian aid.
Despite the reduction of hostilities in many parts of the country, there were ongoing reports of violence throughout Syria.
As relative calm and the momentum created by the Munich agreement afford humanitarian actors increased space to carry out relief operations, the humanitarian situation remains dire for the vast majority of Syrians, particularly those in besieged and hard-to-reach locations. In the north and south of the country, intensified fighting preceding the cessation of hostilities induced significant waves displacement in recent months, with over 70,000 people fleeing fighting north of Aleppo City and throughout rural areas of Aleppo and Idleb governorates, and over 60,000 individuals in Dar’a, Quneitra and As-Sweida governorates in southern Syria. Humanitarian partners present in these areas and responding from proximate locations across the borders in Turkey and Jordan have responded at scale, prepositioning supplies within locations hosting new internally displaced people (IDP) and carrying out rapid assessments and response, as well as contingency planning. While the recent escalation in violence has largely subsided during the reporting period, tens of thousands of new IDPs remain displaced in the north and south, requiring sustained support from humanitarian actors to meet basic needs. Cross-border assistance from the Turkey and Jordan hubs has been scaled-up in recent weeks to respond to these needs, in tandem with increased crossline deliveries.
While access to locations in Rural Damascus has likewise been facilitated by the cessation of hostilities agreement, and the related access efforts of the International Syria Support Group’s Humanitarian Task Force, coordination and negotiation with Government authorities and parties to the conflict for sustained, unimpeded and unconditional humanitarian access across conflict lines requires the continued efforts of all humanitarian actors.