Syria: no end in sight to crisis

As winter draws in, we are supporting people forced from their homes by the conflict in Syria.

Donate to our Syria Crisis appeal>>

With no end in sight to the crisis in Syria, and temperatures dropping sharply, hundreds of thousands of people who have been forced from their homes are struggling to cope.

Thanks to your compassion, we are supporting trusted local partners in Syria and Lebanon, who are providing food parcels, blankets, clothes and medical aid.

“Everything is enveloped by a sense of ruin and decay,” says Bishop Antoine Audo, president of our partner Caritas Syria.

“In Aleppo, there are hundreds of thousands of displaced people crammed into schools and makeshift camps. There are 5,000 people who sleep outside in the gardens of the university campus.

“Conditions are getting worse. We have no hospital, no schools, no university. Even for those who still live in their homes, the situation is difficult.

"Industrial areas on the outskirts of the city have been bombed and looted. For weeks, rubbish has not been collected. The stench has become unbearable.

“Our needs are enormous, there is no security, there are sniper attacks, it is very dangerous… We are suffering and we don’t know what is our future.”

Caritas Syria has five centres within the city of Aleppo, distributing medicine, clothing and food.

Refugees in Lebanon

According to the United Nations, more than 500,000 refugees have crossed from Syria into neighbouring countries in the last few months. Kamal Sioufi from our partner Caritas Lebanon says that this creates a heavy burden.

“We have a history of conflict and of refugees coming to our country,” he said.

“Lebanon already hosts a large numbers of Palestinians and to lesser extent Iraqi refugees. If the number of Syrian refugees keeps rising and if this situation will again last for years, we fear instability.”

The refugees face a hard winter. For two weeks there has been snow on the mountain tops surrounding the Bekaa valley, and many refugees are living in tents, in freezing conditions.

Caritas Lebanon works through centres throughout the country, delivering food parcels, hygiene kits, blankets and medical assistance to refugee families.

Donate to our Syria Crisis appeal>>

Please keep all those affected by the conflict in your prayers>>