HIGHLIGHTS
Violence in Syria has killed more than 162,400 people—including nearly 54,000 civilians— since March 2011, according to the U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Heavy fighting is constraining access to safe drinking water in the city of Aleppo.
Amid insecurity and access constraints, U.N. convoys reach rural areas of Aleppo Governorate and deliver food from Turkey to northern Syria
KEY DEVELOPMENTS
Aerial bombardments, heavy fighting, and conflict-induced displacement continue to endanger civilian populations in Syria. Approximately 54,000 civilians, including an estimated 8,600 children, have died due to violence in Syria, while the conflict has also killed more than 61,100 Syrian Arab Republic Government (SARG) military and militia personnel and 42,700 fighters from opposition groups, the Al Nusra Front, and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). With other deadly casualties—including among pro-SARG groups based in neighboring countries and unidentified individuals—the death toll in Syria had reached approximately 162,400 people as of May 19.
Violence continues to displace civilian populations across Syria. On May 15, humanitarian agencies focused on camp coordination and management in northern Syria reported that more than 143,000 IDPs reside in 90 camps throughout northern Syria, representing a 10 percent increase in the number of IDPs living in these camps since March.
According to advocacy group Physicians for Human Rights, SARG forces have systemically attacked health care facilities in opposition-controlled areas since March 2011, resulting in the death of more than 460 health professionals and nearly half of Syria’s public hospitals damaged, destroyed, or otherwise rendered inoperative. The more than 460 civilian health professionals killed across Syria included at least 157 doctors, 94 nurses, 84 medics, and 45 pharmacists. Aleppo and Rif Damascus governorates have experienced the highest number of reported attacks on medical facilities, with 35 attacks occurring in each.
With USG support, U.N. agencies and NGOs continue to reach populations with emergency humanitarian support—such as food, health care services, protection activities, and water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) interventions—while insecurity, access constraints, and bureaucratic impediments continue to isolate vulnerable populations from assistance.