Iraq News Now

Highlights

3.3 million Syrian refugees and host community members assisted in total in August 2019.

• WFP started to extend its support to refugees of other nationalities in some of the countries responding to the regional Syria refugee crisis.

• In Egypt, WFP targeted refugees of seven different nationalities to be assisted with e-vouchers as part of the “One Refugee Policy”, while in Jordan and Lebanon non-Syrian refugees received unrestricted cash assistance redeemable at ATMs, contracted shops or both, and cash transfers respectively.

Situation Updates

• Since the beginning of the year, there has been an increasing number of spontaneous returns to Syria, as verified by UNHCR.
  UNHCR is working with all parties to remove obstacles to return. WFP continues to work with UNHCR in the framework of the Syrian Refugee Returns Task Force and to monitor the situation of Syrian refugees returning to Syria.

• With the recent establishment of a ‘safe zone’ inside Syria along the Turkish border, some hosting countries including Turkey, might see the opportunity to resettle a portion of the displaced Syrians in-country.

• As a result of camp decongestion started by the Turkish Directorate General of Migration Management (DGMM) in July, four camps were closed in August. Most of the camps residents opted for resettlement in nearby cities, thus benefiting from UNHCR one-off payments to resettling refugees.