HIGHLIGHTS
Airstrikes and SARG ground offensive displace nearly 350,000 people in northwest Syria since December 1
UNSC partially renews cross-border aid resolution for Syria, reauthorizes two of four UN border crossings for six months
Humanitarian actors continue to provide food, shelter, and winterization assistance countrywide
KEY DEVELOPMENTS
Since December 1, increased airstrikes and shelling and a Syrian Arab Republic Government (SARG) ground offensive have displaced nearly 350,000 people from southern Idlib Governorate, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Those fleeing the attacks have primarily moved northward toward urban centers—including Idlib, Ariha, and Saraqab cities—as well as to internally displaced person (IDP) camps near the Syria–Turkey border. OCHA reports that Ma’arrat An-Numan city and surrounding areas are nearly empty, and people from Saraqab and nearby areas continue to relocate in anticipation that the conflict may track northward.
On January 10, the UN Security Council (UNSC) passed a resolution reauthorizing the use of two border crossings from Turkey to northwest Syria to deliver UN cross-border humanitarian assistance for six months. The previous UNSC resolution had authorized those two crossings and two others—from Iraq to northeast Syria and from Jordan to southwest Syria—for 12 months; according to OCHA, the UN had supported approximately 4 million people in northern Syria under the previous resolution, including an estimated 2.7 million people in northwest Syria.
USAID/FFP partner the UN World Food Program (WFP) provided emergency food assistance to approximately 4.5 million people in Syria during December, including regular deliveries inside Syria and through the cross-border operation from Turkey.