Need for aid hits all time high as economy sinks

UNITED NATIONS — More Syrians need humanitarian assistance now than at any time since the country’s civil war began in 2011, the U.N.’s deputy humanitarian chief said, a sign that “the world is failing the Syrian people.”

Assistant Secretary-General Joyce Msuya told the U.N. Security Council that last week’s assessment of humanitarian needs found that 14.6 million Syrians will depend on assistance this year, a 9% increase from 2021 and a 32% increase from 2020.

“This cannot be our strategy,” she said, stressing that Syria now ranks among the 10 most food insecure countries globally, with 12 million people having limited or uncertain access to food.

Msuya said Syria’s economy is spiraling further downward, food costs keep rising, and people are going hungry. The cost of feeding a family of five with only basic items has almost doubled over the past year.

Families are now spending on average 50 percent more than they earn, which has meant borrowing money to get by, she said. This has forced “unbearable choices,” including pulling children, especially girls, out of school and increasing child marriages.

“Female-headed households, older persons without family support, persons with disabilities, and children are disproportionately impacted,” Msuya said.

She urged donors to respond generously to the U.N.’s upcoming humanitarian appeal for Syria for 2022, which will be geared towards “increasing resilience” and access to basic services, including water.

Geir Pedersen, the U.N.’s special envoy for Syria, told the council that militarily, “any of a number of flashpoints could ignite a broader conflagration.”

He cited as examples mutual shelling, skirmishes, and incidents involving improvised explosive devices across frontlines in the northwest, northeast and southwest as well as violence across international borders. There also have been drone strikes in the northeast, Israeli strikes in the south and in the capital Damascus, and security incidents on the Syrian-Jordanian border that the Jordanian government says are related to drug smuggling. He announced that a 45member committee representing the Syrian government, the opposition and civil society will resume talks in Geneva on March 21 on draft constitutional reforms.

Syria’s conflict that began in March 2011 has killed half a million people and displaced half the country’s pre-war population of 23 million.

Omar Albam / Associated Press The Karama camp shelters internally displaced Syrians near the village of Atma in Idlib province. The U.N. says millions of Syrians will depend on humanitarian assistance this year.