UN / SYRIA HUMANITARIAN UPDATE

Thousands of displaced families in the north of Syria are struggling to survive freezing conditions, as humanitarian funding continues to shrink. Humanitarian operations in the country need $112 million for life-saving winter assistance from September 2025 to March of this year. UNIFEED

• Video Length: 00:01:43
• Production Date: 6 January 2026
• Asset Language: English
• Personal Subject: STEPHANE DUJARRIC
• Corporate Name: OFFICE FOR THE COORDINATION OF HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS - OCHA
• Subject Topical: WEATHER; HUMANITARIAN RELIEF; UNITED NATIONS FINANCES; DISPLACED PERSONS
• Geographic Subject: SYRIA
• MAMS Id: 3523253
• Parent Id: 3523253
• Alternate Title: unifeed260106e

Description

STORY: UN / SYRIA HUMANITARIAN UPDATE
TRT: 01:43
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 06 JANUARY 2025, NEW YORK CITY / FILE

Shotlist

FILE - NEW YORK CITY

1. Wide shot, exterior, United Nations Headquarters

06 JANUARY 2025, NEW YORK CITY

2. Wide shot, spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric at the podium
3. Wide shot, journalists
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General, United Nations:
“Thousands of displaced families in the north of the country are struggling to survive freezing conditions, as humanitarian funding continues to shrink. On 31 December, a snowstorm hit 90 displacement sites across the governorates of Aleppo, of Idleb and Al-Hasakeh, affecting more than 150,000 people, many of them already living in fragile shelters. Our humanitarian partners report that two infants died from extreme cold in the Harim area of northern Idleb. Around 5,000 shelters were fully or partially damaged, leaving thousands of people exposed to freezing temperatures and at serious risk of hypothermia and respiratory illness. In Hasakeh city and in collective shelters in the city of Ar-Raqqa, displacement sites have now run out of fuel after previous fuel support ended in December due to funding shortages. Since the storm, partners have been able to provide stoves and fuel to more than 10,000 people in camps but needs far outstrip available assistance. Overall, our humanitarian partners need $112 million for life-saving winter assistance from September 2025 to March of this year. To date, just $29 million has been received, leaving a 74 per cent funding gap and, obviously, placing lives at risk.”
7. Wide shot, end of briefing

Storyline

"Thousands of displaced families in the north of Syria are struggling to survive freezing conditions, as humanitarian funding continues to shrink," a United Nations spokesperson said today (6 Jan)

Humanitarian operations in the country need $112 million for life-saving winter assistance from September 2025 to March of this year. To date, just $29 million has been received, leaving a 74 percent funding gap.

The spokesperson, Stephane Dujarric, told journalists in New York that on 31 December, “a snowstorm hit 90 displacement sites across the governorates of Aleppo, of Idleb and Al-Hasakeh, affecting more than 150,000 people, many of them already living in fragile shelters.”

Dujarric said, “two infants died from extreme cold in the Harim area of northern Idleb. Around 5,000 shelters were fully or partially damaged, leaving thousands of people exposed to freezing temperatures and at serious risk of hypothermia and respiratory illness.”

In Hasakeh city and in collective shelters in the city of Ar-Raqqa, he continued, “displacement sites have now run out of fuel after previous fuel support ended in December due to funding shortages.”

Dujarric noted that “since the storm, partners have been able to provide stoves and fuel to more than 10,000 people in camps but needs far outstrip available assistance.”