The Syrian Civic Platform (SCP) was briefed on the dire humanitarian situation in the villages of Jabal al-Summaq, which have a population of roughly 12,000 people. The area is under the administration of Harem district in Idlib province, in northwestern Syria. The Unified Council in Jabal al-Summaq supervises 18 villages located in the area.
The head of the Unified Council in Jabal al-Summaq describes the humanitarian situation in the area as deplorable. The villages are almost completely isolated from basic services, with a lack of electricity, water and even health services. The villages also suffer from a severe shortage of food, especially bread. The Unified Council has made many attempts to contact a number of humanitarian organizations, however their response has been that the area was not within their scope of work.
In terms of education, the number of schools in the area is insufficient to accommodate all the students with only eight primary and three intermediary schools. Each school has roughly 1,200 students. In addition, the schools lack teachers and teaching aids. The large number of IDPs living in the area has exacerbated the problem.
The head of the Unified Council in the area of Jabal al-Summaq issued a distress call (attached below) to local and international humanitarian organizations to make urgent interventions to alleviate civilian suffering in the area.
Based on the above, the SCP recommends that the United Nations as well as local and international relief organizations go to the villages located in Jabal al-Summaq and assess the humanitarian situation there, and intervene to urgently provide humanitarian assistance.