Period covered by this operations update: January-December 2015
The crisis in Syria has been ongoing for more than five years now, resulting in what is described as the largest population displacement since the Second World War.
During 2015 the situation has further deteriorated in Syria, forcing more than half of the country’s population to leave their homes (6.5 million people are internally displaced and over 4.5 million people have taken refuge outside of the country).
This operations update aims to provide a summary overview about the main achievements of the appeal during the past three and a half years with a specific focus on 2015.
Situation
In the sixth year, the crisis in Syria has resulted in the largest population displacement since the Second World War.
During 2015, the situation has further deteriorated in Syria, forcing more than half of the country’s population to leave their homes, with 6.5 million people internally displaced and over four million people having taken refuge outside of the country.
Over four million people are living in hard to reach areas and approximately 500,000 people are living under siege.
Around 80 per cent of the population is in need of humanitarian assistance, often in multiple sectors.
The main constraints to a timely and effective humanitarian response are related to the ongoing conflict, shifting frontlines and insecurity, in addition to administrative and procedural hurdles.
During 2015, the situation in the country had significantly changed as a result of the security constraints in several areas. Widespread violence continued throughout the country, in 70 per cent of the governorates, particularly in Al Hassakeh, Aleppo, Damascus, Dar’a, Deir ez-Zor, Hama, Homs, Idleb, Lattakia and Rural Damascus, increasing the number of deaths, injuries, destruction of homes and infrastructure as well as displacement of civilians. In April 2015, the increased violence in Idleb - and more specifically in Idleb City - has resulted in massive population displacement to the rural and northern areas of Idleb, to Tartus and Damascus. Most of the areas in the north eastern part of the country (Ar-Raqqa, rural Aleppo, Deir Ez-zor and parts of Hasakeh) are hard to reach, not being regularly accessible for continuous humanitarian assistance due to security and safety considerations. Some areas of Hama and Homs Governorates have become more difficult to access due to shifting frontlines. At the same time, during the year, the situation near Damascus deteriorated, mainly in some rural areas close to the city.
By the end of 2015 and the beginning of 2016, several ceasefire agreements were reached that allowed humanitarian actors to deliver the most needed items to the hard-to-reach and besieged areas in Rural Damascus,
Idleb, Deir Ez-zor and Homs governorates. In many of these areas severe malnutrition cases were reported.