16.5 million Syrians in need of humanitarian aid: UN
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Over 6 million Syrians remain displaced and 6 million others are living as refugees worldwide.
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Alawite man sits on his ramshackle house in Sumariya, a suburb northwest of Damascus, Syria, Saturday, Aug. 30, 2025. (AP)
Nearly 16.5 million people in the country require humanitarian assistance, in addition to 2.5 million returnees, who are both internally displaced persons and refugees returning from abroad, many of whom have lost their homes, stated Dr. Adam Abdelmoula, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Syria.
Speaking at a press conference ahead of the conclusion of his mission, Abdelmoula noted that displacement remains one of Syria’s gravest challenges, with over 6 million people still internally displaced and more than 6 million living as refugees worldwide.
He added that about 24 percent of housing in Syria has been damaged or destroyed in recent years, while UN funding for humanitarian needs remains extremely scarce. He detailed that to date, the 2024 Humanitarian Response Plan has received only 14% of the $3.2 billion required.
Abdelmoula expressed his gratitude to the Syrian government for its close and growing cooperation with UN operations in the country, stressing that the UN’s role is to support national priorities and that consultations are ongoing to enhance plans for humanitarian response, recovery, and development.
This comes amid an atmosphere of instability in Syria, which has witnessed an alarming rate of lethal crimes, according to a recent report by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
280 crimes between December 2024 and September 2025
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, 280 criminal offenses occurred between the fall of former President Bashar al-Assad's regime on December 8, 2024, and September 2025, claiming the lives of 317 people, including 246 men, 48 women, and 23 children.
These crimes were distributed by province as follows: 25 in Damascus, 24 in Damascus countryside; 20 in Aleppo; 13 in Homs; 32 in Hama;20 in Latakia; 29 in Deir Ezzor; 30 in Idlib; 55 in Daraa; 8 in Tartous; 21 in Sweida; two in al-Raqqa; and one in al-Quneitra.
From the fall of the regime until the end of 2024, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights documented 10 criminal offenses that killed 16 people, including 13 men and 3 women, across the provinces of Damascus, Damascus countryside, Aleppo, Homs, Hama, Latakia, and Idlib.
