The UN has described the war as the ‘biggest humanitarian and refugee crisis of our time‘. Civilians continue to suffer from violence, displacement and destruction, struggling to survive one day to the next.

With millions of people driven from their homes, seeking refuge in other countries or displaced within Syria, daily life is a struggle. Families have limited access to food, water and healthcare and as a high proportion of those displaced are children, the future of Syria’s youth remains uncertain.

For people across Syria, life is incredibly challenging:

• Around 70% of people inside Syria require humanitarian aid (United Nations OCHA/Statistics Division, 2017)
• Over 6 million Syrians are internally displaced (UNHCR, 2018)
• One million Syrian children are registered as refugees (UNHCR, 2017)
• Over half of Syria’s hospitals are destroyed or badly damaged (UN, 2017)

Islamic Relief in Syria

Across Syria the situation is desperate and requires a critical, ongoing response. In line with the vision of Islamic Relief’s regional strategy, we are delivering wide-ranging programmes in various areas such as health, food, education, non-food items (NFIs), and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services.

Since the beginning of the crisis, the Islamic Relief team has been working with local partners to reach the most affected people in hard-to-reach areas. We have supported paediatric centres across Northern Syria, providing essential medicine and equipment and also strengthened the capacity of our teams and local organisations so they are better able to respond to emergency situations in Syria and neighbouring countries.

In addition to supporting families inside Syria, we have also been providing aid to millions of displaced Syria families in neighbouring countries including Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey. Our ongoing Syria Emergency Appeal continues to ensure that as many lives are saved as possible.