Highlights
Relative calm during the reporting period in several parts of the country has enabled a positive trend in overall access to people in need, even as outbreaks of violence in some locations have resulted in further displacement of local civilian populations.
UN and partners continued to deliver to millions of people through the regular programme from inside Syria as well as across borders from Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey. Seven inter-agency convoys delivered assistance to a cumulative total of 216,000 people in four besieged locations, two hard-to-reach areas and 50,000 people in one other priority area located across conflict lines.
Syrian Government approval remains pending for inter-agency deliveries to the besieged locations of Madamiyet, Darayya, East Harasta, Zabadani and Douma, all of which are in Rural Damascus.
Health infrastructure damaged during hostilities in February remains inoperable in many locations, though some health services are slowly recovering.
Situation Overview
As Syrians and the international community observed the fifth anniversary of the Syria conflict on 14 March, the cessation of hostilities agreement of 27 February largely held, 1 affording humanitarian actors operating within Syria and from across its borders increased access to long-suffering communities. While increased access to people in need in many locations has contributed to a considerable surge in assistance being provided via UN inter-agency convoys, intermittent fighting, shifting conflict lines and persisting deprivation have continued to displace people across the country.
In the aftermath of population displacement, destruction of civic infrastructure, and the disruption of longstanding humanitarian activities triggered by airstrikes and escalated armed conflict preceding the cessation of hostilities agreement, humanitarian partners continued to scale up assistance to affected populations throughout the country during the reporting period. While relative calm has prevailed in some areas, prompting the return of some who had been displaced in recent months, the destruction of homes, vital infrastructure and livelihoods has deepened vulnerabilities in communities across the country. Capitalising on increased access to a number of communities long cut off from assistance, humanitarian actors based in Syria are prioritizing efforts to try to address the needs of 811,000 people in besieged, hard-to-reach and other priority areas through inter-agency cross-line convoys.
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)’s continued control of communities in Deir-ez-Zor, Aleppo, Ar-Raqqa, AlHasakeh and Homs governorates continues to subject hundreds of thousands of Syrians to brutality and deprivation, while parties to the conflict seek to re-assert authority over these territories. As airstrikes and intense fighting in ISILheld areas endures and access remains acutely limited, humanitarian actors have continued to pursue alternative modalities of assistance delivery, including airdrops, to support people displaced from these areas who have been able to cross conflict lines.
A recent surge in cross-line access has undoubtedly saved many lives and alleviated suffering on a significant scale. This positive momentum needs to be sustained, with access still required to people in need in six besieged locations. While the humanitarian situation in locations that have received assistance via inter-agency cross-line convoys has noticeably improved, lives continue to be unnecessarily lost as a result of the removal of surgical supplies from interagency convoys, as well as lack of access for medical personnel, and, in many cases, the lack of unconditional and timely evacuation of the sick and wounded requiring urgent care. Coordination and negotiation with Government authorities and other parties to the conflict for sustained, unimpeded and unconditional humanitarian access continues to require the engagement of all humanitarian actors and other stakeholders.