Turkey - The recent escalation in violence in Aleppo City has left hundreds of thousands of Syrians in desperate need of humanitarian assistance.

IOM has responded through a “Whole of Syria” coordination mechanism, reaching over 7,500 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in both west and east Aleppo since 11 August, during brief pauses in fighting. Each day as the fighting continues, the humanitarian situation becomes more dire.

There are now some 404,000 IDPs inside Aleppo. Hundreds of thousands of people are struggling to find food, potable water, medical supplies and other basic necessities.  Up to 275,000 people in eastern Aleppo are in urgent need of basic items.

IOM is continuing to respond to urgent calls to deliver critical non-food items (NFIs) from Turkey into Aleppo City.  Since 18 August, IOM Turkey has dispatched 500 solar lamps, 500 hygiene kits and 1,000 baby diapers to Syria, reaching over 3,000 vulnerable Syrians in eastern Aleppo. 

IOM aid deliveries from inside Syria of goods prepositioned in Aleppo and Homs is ongoing in coordination with Syria Arab Red Crescent (SARC). They continue to provide critical aid for newly displaced families currently coming from Al-Hamadaniyah area of west Aleppo.

In the period of August 11-25, about 4,500 IDPs received assistance in western Aleppo, including 997 NFI packs consisting of 171 housing cleaning kits and 826 clothing kits.

“The humanitarian situation in Aleppo is critical. Our teams from the Syria office and the Turkey hub are working with local partners to deliver aid to newly displaced families as soon as possible,” says “Whole of Syria” programme coordinator Angela Santucci.

Despite security precautions, one truck carrying IOM aid was targeted on 22 August, destroying all the humanitarian supplies inside and injuring one aid worker.

Aid deliveries inside Syria continue to be a struggle as humanitarian actors cope with changeable security environments, poor infrastructure and scarcity of basic aid items after years of fighting. 

“The targeting of humanitarian workers and supplies is tragic. Last week, we commemorated World Humanitarian Day and sadly, humanitarian workers continue be targeted in conflicts.  Our thoughts are with the injured victim and his family, but this attack only serves to strengthen our resolve to relieve the suffering inside Syria,” says IOM Turkey Chief of Mission Lado Gvilava.

IOM is positioned to provide urgent humanitarian aid inside Syria as the security situation allows. These operations are funded by ECHO and the governments of Australia and Japan.

For more information, please contact Abby Dwommoh at IOM Turkey, Tel: +90 312 454 3048, Email: MediaIOMTurkey@iom.int. Or Dave Bercasio at IOM Damascus, Tel: +963 988 100 607, Email: dbercasio@iom.int,