WFP Air Deliveries to Provide Humanitarian Support to Besieged and Hard to Reach Areas in Syria

This operation has been modified as per budget revision 3 (see below)

The Syria conflict has further intensified and worsened the already dire humanitarian situation. Five years of conflict have resulted in large-scale population displacement

with more than half of Syria’s population forced to leave their homes. An estimated 13.5 million people, including 6 million children, require various forms of humanitarian assistance. Since the start of 2016, well over 160,000 people have been displaced – many have faced multiple forced displacements, often fleeing with only the clothes on their backs.

Of particular concern is the plight of 4.5 million people - over a third of the population in need – who are estimated to live in besieged and hard-to-reach areas of the country, and are cut off from regular humanitarian assistance. Of these, 2.5 million people are facing severe hunger, including over 487,000 people in 18 besieged locations. The highest concentration of people under siege is in Rural Damascus, followed by Deir Ezzor. Almost the entire population in these areas are at grave risk of starvation as extremely limited access for commercial or humanitarian supplies has led to widespread food shortages and increased hunger. Recent deaths in Madaya, caused by hunger and starvation, show a desperate situation in which besieged communities have resorted to detrimental measures to survive. Markets in most of these areas are not functioning or have been severely disrupted, leaving a highly vulnerable population without access to basic supplies.

Recognizing the urgent needs and having agreed with relevant stakeholders that airdrops are the only viable option, WFP in its capacity as the global lead of the Logistics Cluster, is launching a special operation to conduct high-altitude parachute airdrops into Deir Ezzor city. The project is planned for an initial duration of three months at a total estimated cost of US$18,154,268.

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This BR 3 to SO 200950 seeks to extend the project in time for two months until 31 December 2016 in order to ensure the continued delivery of food and other relief items by air to support affected populations in the Deir Ezzor region of Syria with a subsequent total budget increase of US$8,958,890.