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SYRIA: FLASH UPDATE ON RECENT EVENTS

11 January 2018

This update provides a summary of recent displacement, along with developments from the UNHCR co-led Sector/Clusters of Protection, Camp Coordination and Camp Management (CCCM) and Shelter/Non Food Items (SNFI).

KEY DISPLACEMENT STATISTICS (AS OF 2 JANUARY 2018)

• 1,288,957 displacements recorded by the CCCM Cluster in the last 12 months from affected areas of northern and southern Syria:
• 1,258,170 displacements from affected areas of northern Syria, including Ar-Raqqa (320,027), Aleppo (267,355), Hama (242,949), Deir-Ez-Zor (242,007), Idleb (133,925), Homs (36,588), Al-Hassakeh (13,738), Lattakia (1,581) governorates, northern Syria. This includes around 75,000 new displacements recorded in December 2017, primarily from Hama and Idleb governorates.
• 30,787 displacements from affected areas of Damascus, Rural Damascus, Sweida and Dar’a, south-western Syria.

CONTEXTUAL DEVELOPMENTS

• The UN continues to receive concerning reports of ongoing fighting and airstrikes affecting the civilian population in north-west Syria. Communities and IDP sites, already hosting thousands of IDPs, are struggling to absorb new arrivals. The UN estimates that 55 per cent of communities in Idleb governorate are overburdened, with IDPs comprising a substantial portion of the population in many communities. The fighting has also forced some humanitarian organizations to suspend operations in parts of southern Idleb.
• The UN reported that while fighting and clashes in the besieged area of eastern Ghouta (near Damascus) have increased substantially since November, there has been a further escalation in airstrikes and ground-based strikes since 31 December. Reports indicate a rise in airstrikes across a number of towns in the besieged enclave, including Harasta, Arbeen, Modira, Mesraba, Hamourya, and Duma.
• As of 19 December, the UN estimates that there are 2.9 million people in need in hard-to-reach locations, including 417,566 people in besieged locations. The number of people in besieged areas has decreased from 419,920 at the end of September 2017, as the suburb of Qaboun in Damascus has been deemed to no longer meet the besiegement criteria. The largest besieged area remains eastern Ghouta (Damascus), where nearly 400,000 people are besieged by Syrian government forces.