Attachments
HIGHLIGHTS
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Joint Rapid Assessment in Northern Syria report released—3.4 million people in need in surveyed areas of northern governorates
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As part of larger assistance efforts, USG reaches approximately 710,000 people with winterization and other relief commodities inside Syria
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Conflict escalates with violence in central Damascus and missile strikes in Aleppo
KEY DEVELOPMENTS
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The first report of the Joint Rapid Assessment in Northern Syria (J-RANS)—a collaborative effort led by the Assessment Capabilities Project (ACAPS) and involving a range of humanitarian actors and the Syrian Opposition Coalition (SOC) Assistance Coordination Unit (ACU)—was released on February 17. J-RANS is funded by the U.K. Department for International Development (DFID) and endorsed by USAID/OFDA and the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection (ECHO). The survey covered 45 percent of Aleppo, Al Hasakah, Ar Raqqa, Dayr az Zawr, Idlib, and Latakia governorates, representing 34 percent of the total Syrian population, and found 3.4 million people in need of humanitarian assistance and 1.1 million IDPs in surveyed areas.
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A powerful bomb exploded in central Damascus on February 21, and fighting reached some previously untouched areas of the city for the first time, according to international media sources. In an escalation of the conflict, the Syrian Arab Republic Government (SARG) launched at least four ballistic missiles that struck populated areas in the city of Aleppo and a town in Aleppo governorate during the week of February 17, killing more than 141 people, according to a Human Rights Watch report widely reported in the international media.
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Approximately 65,000 people in Aleppo, Homs, and Idlib governorates benefited from deliveries of humanitarian assistance organized by U.N agencies across lines of conflict between January 31 and February 18, as the U.N. continued to accelerate its response in Syria. From February 9 to 22, assistance from the U.N. Children’s Fund (UNICEF), a USG partner, benefited approximately 223,000 people in seven governorates.