Syria: Dozens of people treated following an airstrike in Idlib

October 27, 2020

On the morning of Monday 26 October, an airstrike hit an area in the north of Idlib governorate, northwest Syria. Local media outlets have reported more than 75 deaths and another 135 injured so far. The vast majority of the...

Syria: Ten-fold increase in COVID-19 cases adds new challenges in northwest Syria

September 22, 2020

Northwest Syria is currently witnessing a sharp increase in the number of patients with COVID-19, which is now ten times higher than what it was just a month ago. As of 22 September, 640 people had tested positive for the new coronavirus in the region,...

Syria: “In Al-Hol camp, almost no healthcare is available and the consequences are devastating”

August 27, 2020

As numbers of patients with COVID-19 grow in northeast Syria, the pandemic is having a knock-on impact on other health services in a region where some 700,000 people are displaced from their homes. MSF emergency manager for Syria Will Turner describes the situation...

Syria: COVID-19 provokes fears over further health system decline in northwestern Syria

July 21, 2020

Four months after COVID-19 was officially declared an international pandemic, the disease has made its way into northwest Syria, with a first case confirmed on 9 July. Since then, 18 more people have tested positive for COVID-19 in the area. More than half of...

Syria: Life in an open-air prison: living under the bombs in Idlib

June 29, 2020

Abu Fadel, Hassan and Iman… all three are living in Idlib governorate in northwest Syria. Like 2.7 million other Syrians, they’ve been displaced within the country several times, and some of them ended up in Idlib. The last rebel stronghold, bombed in massive...

Syria: Concerns mount over COVID-19 response in northeast Syria

April 22, 2020

AMSTERDAM/NORTHEAST SYRIA — As the first reported death from COVID-19 is confirmed in northeast Syria, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is concerned about the region’s preparedness and capacity to respond to an outbreak. A weakened health system, delays in testing and border closures...

Northwest Syria: “COVID-19 adds another layer of complexity to an already catastrophic situation”

April 2, 2020

Cristian Reynders, field coordinator for MSF operations in northwest Syria, explains what the potential spread of COVID-19 would mean in Idlib and how MSF is preparing for it. Not so long ago, COVID-19 was not yet making headlines worldwide. On...

Syria: People in northwest Syria continue to struggle despite truce

March 19, 2020

The military offensive carried out by the Government of Syria and its allies in northwest Syria has led to almost a million people in the Idlib region becoming displaced in the space of just four months. People have had to flee from their homes...

Syria: Displaced people face a desperate situation in Idlib

March 9, 2020

Over the three past months, almost one million people, according to the UN, have been displaced by bombing and shelling in Idlib province, northwestern Syria. Displaced people, many of whom have been forced to move several times, face a desperate situation....

Syria: Horrific day of indiscriminate attacks on civilians in Idlib

February 27, 2020

BRUSSELS – Indiscriminate attacks on civilian areas had predictably horrific consequences yesterday in Idlib governorate, Syria. Three hospitals near the frontlines that are supported by Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) received 185 wounded, and 18 patients who were dead-on-arrival. "We do...

Syria: People in Idlib race to flee airstrikes as ‘safe’ area shrinks

February 19, 2020

In northwest Syria, airstrikes combined with a ground offensive conducted by Syrian government forces and their Russian allies have triggered a huge wave of displacement in the last opposition-held area in the country. With towns and camps west of Aleppo hit by shelling...

Syria: Advancing frontlines, mass exodus and reduced access to hospitals in Idlib

January 31, 2020

The military offensive carried out by the government of Syria and its allies in southern Idlib continues, worsening an already critical situation for the population in northwest Syria. In the space of two months (December 2019 and January 2020), nearly...