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On 6 January 2026, the city of Aleppo witnessed a serious and sudden escalation, similar to what occurred a few weeks earlier, with clear indications of a tangible deterioration in the humanitarian situation across the governorate and the northeastern Governates and regions.
This escalation occurred shortly after previous incidents and was more intense, resulting in the death of more than 24 people and the injury of over 105 others within a few hours.
The neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud and Al-Ashrafieh became hard-to-reach areas, and a general curfew was imposed, except for limited hours to allow the evacuation of civilians. Government authorities announced the establishment of two Humanitarian corridors to facilitate the exit of residents from these neighborhoods.
Large numbers of families began leaving through these crossings, in addition to significant displacement of residents from surrounding neighborhoods to safer areas within the city of Aleppo and to rural areas.
Reports also began to emerge of families arriving in other governorates, including Tartous, Deir Ezzor, Raqqa, and Al-Hasakah. By 11 January 2026, an estimated 150,000 individuals had left the affected neighborhoods and surrounding areas, relocating across multiple locations.
Government authorities identified more than 40 collective shelters to receive families who were forced to leave their homes. However, not all shelter centers were utilized, as the majority of families moved toward host communities.
A state of maximum alert remains in place across all public sectors, alongside the continued suspension of work and education in all government institutions, schools, and universities. Aleppo International Airport has also ceased operations.
Teams from the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) were present at the crossings in Aleppo to support families during evacuation. Response teams worked on guiding families, providing assistance, delivering emergency medical and health services, and offering psychological first aid.
The rapid deterioration of the situation has led to increased and expanding displacement, escalating humanitarian needs—particularly in food, shelter, and health services—and a growing number of the most vulnerable groups requiring basic assistance.
Despite ongoing efforts, the scale of needs continues to exceed available resources due to resource scarcity, reduced funding, and increasing complexity of the humanitarian context, which has created a fragile humanitarian reality and severely limited resilience among families and communities.
This escalation highlights the urgent need to raise preparedness levels across all departments, and points of service, to strengthen coordination with humanitarian partners, to continue close monitoring of the situation, and to develop rapid response plans. These plans should include the optimal use of emergency stocks (which the Syrian Arab Red Crescent has increasingly lacked in recent periods), support to ambulance teams, and the identification of safe gathering points in anticipation of further displacement.