1. The present report is the seventy-eighth report submitted pursuant to paragraph 17 of Security Council resolution 2139 (2014), paragraph 10 of resolution 2165 (2014), paragraph 5 of resolution 2191 (2014), paragraph 5 of resolution 2258 (2015), paragraph 5 of resolution 2332 (2016), paragraph 6 of resolution 2393 (2017), paragraph 12 of resolution 2401 (2018), paragraph 6 of resolution 2449 (2018), paragraph 8 of resolution 2504 (2020), paragraph 3 of resolution 2533 (2020) and paragraph 5 of resolution 2585 (2021), in the last four of which the Council requested the Secretary-General to provide a report at least every 60 days on the implementation of the resolutions by all parties to the conflict in the Syrian Arab Republic.
2. The information contained herein is based on data available to entities of the United Nations system and obtained from the Government of the Syrian Arab Republic and other relevant sources. Data from entities of the United Nations system regarding their humanitarian deliveries have been reported for the months of February and March 2022.
II. Major developments
Key points
1. Violence continued in the Idlib de-escalation area in the north-west of the Syrian Arab Republic, including air strikes, mutual shelling and clashes, amid continued high levels of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases.
2. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights verified incidents in which at least 92 civilians, including 4 women and 25 children, were killed as a result of hostilities. In addition, at least 113 civilians, including 13 women and 57 children, were injured.
3. Some 14.6 million people across the country remain in need of humanitarian assistance, an increase of 1.2 million since last year and more than at any time since the start of the Syrian conflict, in 2011.
4. The economic crisis continued to affect civilians across the country.
Approximately 12 million people are considered to be food-insecure.
February marked the sixth consecutive month with the highest monthly price ever recorded for a standard food basket. Furthermore, February saw the FAO Food Price Index reach its highest level since February 2011.
5. Reliable access to sufficient and safe water across the north of the Syrian Arab Republic remains a challenge. The Uluk water station worked only intermittently during the reporting period.
6. The COVID-19 virus continued to spread across parts of the country, with transmission rates remaining high, exacerbating an already dire humanitarian situation. Although vaccinations are under way, only 7.1 per cent of the population had been fully vaccinated by the end of the reporting period, while 12.1 per cent of the population had received at least one dose.
7. Humanitarian assistance by United Nations agencies and their partners continued throughout the Syrian Arab Republic, including food assistance from the World Food Programme (WFP) for 5.3 million people in February and 5 million people in March, across all 14 governorates. In February, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) provided more than 1.1 million people with access to critical social services across the 14 governorates, including health, nutrition, water and sanitation, education, adolescent participation and development, and social protection. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) provided cash assistance covering living costs for two months to some 416,500 Palestine refugees.
8. Multiple safety and security incidents occurred in Hawl camp during the reporting period, most recently on 28 and 29 March, resulting in three deaths and at least 13 injured and affecting humanitarian service delivery.
9. The access landscape in the Syrian Arab Republic remains complex, with different geographical areas and types of services requiring the use of a variety of operating modalities. United Nations agencies successfully dispatched the third cross-line delivery to Sarmada in the north-west of the country on 30 March 2022. Fourteen trucks carrying food and non-food items contributed by WFP, UNICEF, the United Nations Population Fund, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the World Health Organization made the journey from United Nations warehouses in Aleppo to WFP warehouses in Sarmada and Dana.
Source: UN Security Council