ReliefWeb

Highlights

• For over a month,sustained hostilities continue to affect civilians and civilian infrastructure in south-west Syria.
  While initial displacement numbers have reduced significantly, the needs of IDPs and returnees remain severe, yet, humanitarian access to all people in need is an ongoing challenge.

• Increased hostilities in Quneitra and north-western and western Dar’a led to further displacement towards areas further south and closer to the Golan area, with the overall numbers fluctuating on a daily basis and currently estimated at some 140,000 individuals. The UN continues to lack sustained access to this affected population.

• Most cross-border partners on the ground were themselves subject to displacement or have run out of supplies, with the last cross-border convoy under SCR 2165 dispatched from Jordan on 25 June. Many NGO-partners and health staff in areas that have come under GoS control requested security guarantees for their protection and ability to continue operating. The UN continues to advocate for the protection of humanitarian workers and health staff, and emphasizes that a continuity of services must be ensured to address humanitarian needs.

• The UN and humanitarian partners have mobilized a response, both cross-border and from within Syria, reaching tens of thousands of people with critical life-saving assistance. Recognizing the fact that access has opened to areas that have recently changed control, the UN continues to advocate for sustained access for humanitarian actors to provide assistance and protection to all people in need, across the affected area.

• The UN and partners, both from within Syria and cross-border, require a total of $84.8 million to support 300,000 affected people with protection and assistance across south-west Syria.

up to 203,500 people remain displaced in south-west Syria up to

140,000 IDPs are located in Quneitra, some in close proximity to the Golan area

162,080 beneficiaries reached with food deliveries from within Syria

$84.8 is the funding requirement identified by the UN and partners to assist those affected

Situational Overview

Since 17 June, hostilities continue to escalate in south-west Syria. Just over the past 48 hours, air and ground-based strikes were reported on Tassil, Nawa and Ash Shaykh Sa’d in western Dar'a, and on Nabe'a Al Sakher in Quneitra governorate. Sustained aerial and artillery shelling continue to affect civilian infrastructure and service delivery. On 17 July, airstrikes on a school in Ein Eltineh, south of Quneitra city, that had served as a temporary shelter for IDPs, allegedly killed 13 civilians, including eight children, and injured at least 30 others. The injured were rushed to the Rafid hospital, where a shortage of medicines and medical supplies could lead to further and preventable deaths.

The same day, airstrikes on Nawa reportedly rendered the town’s only field hospital inoperable.
Following a month of sustained hostilities, the GoS has taken control of the entire eastern area of formerly NSAGcontrolled Dar’a, most of the border area with Jordan and large swaths of land in the eastern part of the western enclave. While military activity since 17 June had originally displaced some 325,000 people, the largest displacement number recorded since the onset of the Syrian crisis, IDP counts had temporarily reduced significantly to 187,000 IDPs following a series of local agreements and subsequent IDP returns to their areas of origin. However, following heightened hostilities in Quneitra IDP numbers have increased yet again and currently stand at an estimated 203,500 individuals.

The majority of the displaced are currently located in the Golan area, where some 140,000 individuals live under increasingly difficult circumstances, with some 16,000 located in the UNDOF area of responsibility. Cross-border humanitarian actors in the western area report that they only have limited supplies left, some sufficient for up to three months. Shelter and NFI supplies, however, are already fully depleted, and there is only limited ability to source humanitarian assistance from local markets. To date, humanitarian partners based in Damascus have not been able to access the populations in the Quneitra area due to a lack of necessary approvals. Consequently, there are significant unmet needs, and some IDPs in Quneitra remain without shelter, exposed to the sun, in temperatures reaching up to 40 degrees Celsius. While some IDPs in the Quneitra area were able to return to their areas of origin, increased hostilities on Quneitra and north-western and western Dar’a led to further displacement towards areas further south and to areas that reached local agreements, such as Jasim, Tafas and Ankhel. The overall displacement numbers are fluctuating on a daily basis. Additionally, fighting in the ISIL-controlled Yarmouk valley over the past week has seen additional movement of IDPs towards Quneitra.
Furthermore, to date, some 430 individuals (213 men, 77 women and 140 children) were evacuated to Idleb governorate as part of the local agreement in Dar’a. There are reports that additional evacuations may take place in the near future.