Attachments
Highlights
1,772 Households surveyed
12% Female Headed Households
18% Stay as guest
30% Displaced Households
Situation Overview
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On 4 August, a massive explosion at a warehouse in Beirut Port ripped through the city causing widespread casualties and material damage. The deadly blast devastated the main grain silos, where 120,000 metric tons of the country food stocks, including wheat, soy and other staples, were stored and reportedly destroyed. Beirut functions as a key strategic corridor for commodities bound for Syria, and Beirut Port accounts for 30 percent of incoming shipments bound for WFP’s operation in Syria. Even though a small portion of the Syrian inbound WFP shipments has since been diverted to Lebanon’s Tripoli Port after the explosion, the container terminal at Beirut port remains operational, and WFP Syria is still able to use Beirut for shipments with no significant delays on the provision of food assistance into Syria.
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A threefold increase in the COVID-19 cases has been recorded across Syria during August 2020. As of 31 August, 2,765 COVID-19 cases were officially confirmed, including 112 fatalities. An increase of close to 265 percent compared to the national rate of COVID19 cases at the end of July. On 10 August, the first COVID-19 case was also confirmed among the population of the Al-Hol IDP camp in Al-Hasakeh governorate. At the governorate level, the highest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases by the end of August 2020 was reported in Damascus (1,024 cases) and Aleppo (466 cases). As a result of this spike in COVID-19 cases in Syria, on 13 August, Jordanian authorities announced that they would close Jaber crossing, the land trade border with Syria.
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The Alouk water station in Al-Hasakeh governorate, the main water source for north-eastern Syria, stopped pumping water more than a dozen times since January 2020. Despite the ongoing repairs, water did not reach Al-Hasakeh for around two weeks in August 2020, highlighting a particular concern given the spread of COVID-19 cases in northeastern Syria and the regular need to access clean water to safeguard against further spread of the pandemic. On 27 August, the Governor of Al-Hasakeh announced that water had started to reach several neighborhoods of the city.
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Increased hostilities were observed in northwest Syria (where an estimated 76 percent of the population are women and children), particularly in eastern Idleb, northern Aleppo, and the vicinity of the frontlines by the M4 highway in northern Lattakia, with more frequent shelling reported since early July 2020.
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Meanwhile, to address growing needs resulting from persistent incidents of violence, the deteriorating socio-economic situation and the COVID-19 outbreak in August, WFP dispatched food rations sufficient for 4.8 million people across all governorates of Syria, including commodities for 989,400 people across the northeastern governorates and 1.3 million people in southern Syria, in addition to delivering food to 1.4 million people via the cross-border crossing from Turkey to areas in northwest Syria.