Highlights
Over 5.47 million people now living in hard-to-reach and besieged locations
Access to these areas remains key challenge for humanitarians
Six inter-agency convoys completed under the June interagency operation plan during the reporting period
Targeted attacks on hospitals undermine access to health
Food assistance reaches Daraya for the first time since November 2012
Food insecurity concerns in southern Syria
Situation Overview
The number of people in need living in besieged and hard-to-reach areas has risen to 5.47 million, including some 590,000 across in 18 besieged locations, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Stephen O'Brien confirmed in a Security Council briefing as this report went to press. Some 4.9 million people are currently living in hard-to-reach areas.
This represents an increase of 110,000 people in besieged locations and 800,000 in hard-to-reach locations, further highlighting the increasing challenges for humanitarians seeking to assist people across Syria.
The main changes were as follows:
Al Wa’er neighbourhood in Homs was added to the besieged list.
Zabadin in eastern Ghouta was removed from the besieged list, following the Government of Syria retaking the town.
SDF/YPG-controlled areas in the north of Syria, namely Ain Al Arab (northern Aleppo Governorate), northern Ar-Raqqa, and northern and central Al-Hasakeh are now classified as hard-to-reach. These areas have been included due to the restrictions imposed on convoys crossing borders from Iraq and Turkey, except for medical supplies which were allowed to cross from Iraq. Although the Peshkabour border with Iraq crossing was opened on 8 June, it would be premature to guarantee the border will remain open indefinitely without restrictions. Additionally, the border crossing has significant limitations in its capacity.
Re-evaluations of population estimates in northern rural Homs, including Talbiseh, Ar-rastan, Ghanto,
Taldu, and Harbanifse, Menbij, At Tall, and Eastern Ghouta, resulted in sizeable changes for both hard-toreach and besieged population numbers.Some areas were removed from the hard-to-reach list, including Nabul and Zahraa in Aleppo, Ziyara and some areas of As-Saan in Hama, Al Wa’er (which was reclassified as besieged), Tadmor and Qarytein in Homs, Kansaba and Rabee’a in Lattakia and Yarboud in Rural Damascus.
Among the hard-to-reach list, the areas where the humanitarian community is concerned that access issues are creating particularly acute needs include: eastern Aleppo City, Sheikh Maqsoud (N. Aleppo City), Rural Damascus areas of At Tall, Eastern Ghouta, Khan El Shih, Beit Jan, and Beit Sabr as well as northern rural Homs, and Ash Shujara in south-western Dar’a.
Only 34.3 per cent of people in need in besieged locations and just 13.6 per cent of those living in hard-to-reach locations are being reached on average each month with multi-sectorial assistance (UN and NGO combined), according to February to April figures. While insufficient, this represents a significant increase in monthly reach as compared to last year, which can be attributed to increased cross-line deliveries in particular.
From January through April, the health sector was only able to access nine of the 18 besieged locations per month and only 40 of the 1,757 hard-to-reach communities (excluding besieged locations) each month.
Since the beginning of 2016, 844,325 people in hard-to-reach areas, including 334,150 people in besieged locations have received multi-sectorial assistance, through UN inter-agency operations. This is a significant increase over the same period last year, when the number of beneficiaries reached stood at 240,000. Since the beginning of January, a total of 86 inter-agency convoys to besieged and hard-to-reach locations have been undertaken, against a total of 50 in 2014 and 34 in 2015.
While such numbers show progress, more work is urgently needed to assist the 13.5 million Syrians in need, in particular the 5.47 million people in hard-to-reach and besieged locations.