syria

A mother and her child walk back to the shelter they have found in a damaged school. They could not obtain a tent in the nearby IDP camp.
© UNOCHA/Mohannad Zayat

News in Brief 15 March 2021

15 March 2021
News in Brief
  • Myanmar crisis: UN Special Envoy condemns ‘ongoing brutality’ 
  • Bachelet: South Sudan must hold supporters of community militias accountable 
  • Voices from Syria reflect on a decade of fighting and hopes for a peaceful future 
Audio -
3'21"
Muhannad Hadi, Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Syria Crisis.
WFP

After 10 years of war, 'heart breaking’ to see suffering of Syrians: senior UN relief official

15 March 2021
Interviews

In an interview with UN News, Muhannad Hadi, Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Syria Crisis speaks to Shirin Yaseen of our Arabic team, about the Organization’s efforts and priorities for ordinary Syrians caught up in the brutal war that on Monday, marks its grim, 10-year anniversary. 

Audio -
4'21"
Syrian refugee and poet, Amineh Abou Kerech, (16) left her war-torn country at the age of seven.
Mohammad Abou Kerech

First Person: Poetry and the pain of loss and leaving; a voice from Syria

14 March 2021
Culture and Education

A young Syrian woman has told the United Nations how poetry helped her to convey the emotions of all the children who have been caught up in the decade-long civil war in her country.

Destruction in the ancient city of Aleppo, Syria (file)
UNESCO

'Lament for Syria': a teenager's poetic cry for her homeland

14 March 2021
Interviews

Teenager Amineh Abou Kerech left Syria in 2012, one year into the decade-long conflict which has devastated the country.

She reads her poem for UN News.

Audio -
2'35"
Children play in a camp for displaced people in southern Idlib, Syria.
UNOCHA

FROM THE FIELD: Syria statistics tell tragic tale of decade-long conflict

12 March 2021
Humanitarian Aid

Ten numbers for each year of Syria’s seemingly interminable conflict: the UN’s Humanitarian agency (OCHA) has marked this tragic milestone by highlighting in figures the country’s miserable decade of suffering and loss.

A coronavirus vaccine developed by Oxford University.
University of Oxford/John Cairns

News in Brief 12 March 2021

12 March 2021
News in Brief
  • UN health agency backs AstraZeneca COVID vaccine amid blood clot concerns 
  • Nine in 10 Syrian children need help after a decade of war: UNICEF  
  • Somalia water shortages displace 83,000 people since November – OCHA 
Audio -
3'35"
A child is surrounded by floodwater in Kafr Losin Camp in northwestern Syrian.
© UNICEF/Khaled Akacha

Syria war: Average of one child injured or killed every eight hours over past 10 years - UNICEF 

12 March 2021
Peace and Security

The grim ten-year anniversary of the war in Syria has left 90 percent of the country’s children in need of help, as a triple crisis of violence, economic misery and the COVID-19 pandemic has pushed families to the brink of despair, UNICEF reported on Friday.  

A child living in an IDP camp in northwestern Syria.
© UNICEF/Khaled Akacha

‘Limited’ progress in closing Syria chemical weapons file, UN Disarmament Chief tells Security Council

4 March 2021
Peace and Security

Seven years after the Security Council mandated the destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons programme, there have been only “limited developments” in the implementation of resolution 2118, passed unanimously in 2013 to bring the country into compliance with its global obligations, the UN disarmament chief said on Thursday. 

A family arrives in Afrin in northern Aleppo governorate in Syria after escaping conflict in rural Idlib. (file photo)
UNICEF/Ashawi

Traumatic waiting game for Syrians unsure of the fate of detained loved ones 

3 March 2021
Interviews

After 10 years of war in Syria, there are likely tens of thousands of detainees across the country, held by the Government and opposition groups – a traumatic waiting game for the families unsure of their fate. 

In an interview with UN News’s Daniel Johnson, rights investigator Hanny Megally from the Commission of Inquiry on Syria, explains what steps the international community is taking to try to resolve the situation – and what obstacles it still faces. 

Audio -
8'51"
Two young girls who have been displaced due to conflict are now living in a UNHCR-supported settlement in the outskirts of Aden, Yemen.
UNOCHA/Giles Clarke

News in Brief 1 March 2021

1 March 2021
News in Brief
  • Time running out to help 16 million Yemenis avoid disaster: Guterres 
  • Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana begin COVID-19 vaccinations for key healthcare workers 
  • Fate still unclear of ‘tens of thousands’ of civilian detainees in Syria 
Audio -
3'45"