Attachments
In Numbers
13.5 m people in need of humanitarian assistance
6.3 m people internally displaced
9 m people in need of food assistance
Highlights
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WFP dispatched food assistance for 3.8 million people; 29 percent of the assistance was delivered to areas not regularly reachable from inside Syria through cross-border, cross-line and air deliveries.
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WFP provided urgent food assistance for 216,100 newly displaced people in Idleb, Ar-Raqqa, Aleppo, Deir Ezzor and Dar’a governorate.
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WFP’s Executive Director (ED), David Beasley, made an official visit to Syria on 1-2 May. This was the first visit of the newly appointed ED to WFP operations since he assumed office in April.
Situation Update
Evacuation of People from the Four Towns
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In early April, the Government of Syria and armed groups agreed to evacuate the Four Towns of Foah and Kefraya in Idleb governorate (under government control) and Madaya and Zabadani in Rural Damascus governorate (under opposition control). An estimated 11,800 people from the towns were evacuated to government controlled areas and areas under opposition control, respectively. These towns were besieged for more than three years, and people have been living under very difficult and constrained conditions with limited access and availability of sufficient food items. The food and nutrition needs among the evacuees are high, particularly among women, children and elderly people.
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The evacuation process was intermittently suspended following a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED) attack on 15 April on busses that were carrying evacuees from Foah and Kefraya at the transit point in Al-Rashdeen in Aleppo governorate, which reportedly killed over 100 people, mostly children.
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During their evacuation, the displaced persons went through a long and exhausting journey. Prior to moving to the respective destinations, the evacuees were transferred to different transit points in Aleppo city. WFP responded to the needs of all evacuees who were waiting at the transit points and provided food assistance, including ready-to-eat rations (RTEs), sandwiches and fresh bread. Following their onward journey to locations elsewhere in the country, WFP is working together with other humanitarian actors to provide humanitarian assistance to respond to the needs of the evacuated families.