Syria

The MSF team conducts medical consultations with patients at a mobile clinic run by MSF in displacement camps in Sarmada area in northern Idlib governorate. Northwest Syria, December 2023.

Find out the latest news on Syria

Also available in

Our activities in 2025

Share This

In Syria, the economic crisis has compounded the humanitarian crisis caused by the war, with greater numbers of people than ever in desperate need of assistance.

Following 13 years of an ongoing war, a record of 16.7 million people need humanitarian assistance in Syria (European Commission). Over 7 million people are internally displaced, most of whom are women and children (UNHCR).

We operate in Syria where we can, but ongoing insecurity and access constraints limit our ability to provide humanitarian assistance that matches the scale of the needs.

In areas where access could be negotiated, such as the northwest and northeast Syria, we run and support hospitals and health centres, and we provide healthcare through mobile clinics.

An inflatable operating theatre is erected inside this MSF makeshift hospital in Syria (a converted chicken farm) as it is an efficient way to maintain a sterile environment.

We see people in the camps suffering from poor living conditions and an overall lack of humanitarian assistance, mental health support or access to vaccinations. Supporting hospitals, basic healthcare centres and mobile clinics in displacement camps are also a central part of our response. Due to the poor living conditions in the region, injuries from domestic accidents are also frequent. We run a specialised surgical burns unit in northwest Syria to respond to such injuries.

Learn more

A hospital in east Aleppo is patched up with sandbags after it was hit by airstrikes in April 2016, killing one doctor and injuring several nurses.

A hospital in East Aleppo, Syria, is patched up with sandbags after it was hit by airstrikes in April 2016, killing one doctor and injuring several nurses.

What used to be a functional health system in Syria has been devastated by the conflict. Hundreds of medical facilities have been bombed, medical staff have been killed, detained or have fled, and supplies are lacking. Syrian health staff have been forced to improvise operating theatres and work in deplorable conditions, overwhelmed by emergencies. Over the past decade, we have not only dealt with mass casualties and acute emergencies but also the resurgence of preventable diseases.

MSF staffs treat a young boy in a mobile clinic that provides services for displaced Syrians. Idlib, Syria.

MSF staffs treat a young boy in a mobile clinic that provides services for displaced Syrians in Idlib, Syria.

An estimated 6.9 million people remain internally displaced in Syria. Most people who have fled violence live in camps, improvised shelters or with host families. The 11 years of conflict, the COVID-19 pandemic and a severe economic crisis have further aggravated their vulnerability. Most people living in displacement camps have suffered from repeated displacement. Many suffer poor living conditions, psychological trauma and a lack of access to medical care. In some of these camps, we provide healthcare and mental health support through mobile clinics as well as water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services.

Operation theater of an MSF hospital in northern Syria (Aleppo province). The hospital has attended 601 deliveries and provided almost 15,000 consultations and 446 surgical operations up to April 2013. It is focused on obstetric care and surgery.

Operation theatre of an MSF hospital in northern Syria (Aleppo province).

As the conflict escalated in the early years of the Syrian war, so did the crackdown on medical assistance for people in areas that were not under the control of the Syrian Government. In areas we can’t access, we have tried to maintain a system of distance support to medical facilities and networks of medics. Over the years, we supported underground medical networks.

More than half of Idlib’s population is made up of displaced Syrians.
Many of them are living in informal.camps

Given the volatility of the Syrian context, our teams are ready to respond to various emergencies, from mass casualties to displacement and outbreaks. Throughout the years, we have diversified our activities in the country, from trauma care, vaccination campaigns, maternity care and mental health support.

Our activities in 2025 in Syria

Data and information from the International Activity Report 2025.

699

Staff in 2025 (full-time equivalent)

€48.9 M

48.9M

expenditure in 2025

2009

Year MSF first worked in country

MSF in Syria in 2025 In 2025, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) sent teams further into Syria, to reach communities in urgent need of medical assistance after years of conflict.

Country map for the IAR 2025.

Around one million Syrian refugees returned home, while over six million remained internally displaced,* in a country devastated by 14 years of conflict. Entire neighbourhoods have been destroyed, and people face widespread poverty, severe shortages of water, food, and healthcare, and the risk of injury from unexploded ordnance. During 2025, we scaled up our operations, delivering care in 10 hospitals and 21 clinics and general healthcare centres, and running mobile clinics across 12 of the 14 governorates.

Despite relative stability, there were sporadic surges in violence in several governorates, causing further waves of displacement within the country and over borders. An outbreak of violence in Sweida forced 180,000 people to flee their homes,** putting a further strain on communities in other areas of the governorate, and in Daraa and Rif Damashq (Rural Damascus). In Daraa, MSF responded by providing mass-casualty kits, medical consultations, and mental health support, and distributing relief items to displaced families. In Sweida, we supported emergency room services through donating medical supplies, rehabilitation work, and training, while also supplying fuel for ambulances, and distributing blankets, hygiene kits, and kitchen equipment. In March, following violence in Tartus and Latakia, MSF treated patients in Jisr Al-Shughour and donated medical kits to health facilities.

In northwest Syria, especially Idlib, we operated mobile clinics in displacement camps, offering general, maternal, and child healthcare, mental health support, and treatment for chronic diseases. We also scaled up specialist care for survivors of ill-treatment from Idlib, Damascus, and Kafr Batna. In Anjara, Kafr Dael, Job Kass, Tal Hadia, and Fraikeh, we set up boreholes and pumps and trucked in water for displaced people. In addition, at our hospital in Atmeh, we treated patients with burns, mostly incurred in accidents due to unsafe living conditions in camps.

In the northeast, fighting in Manbij, Shahba, and Tal Rifaat in December 2024 caused thousands of people to flee towards Raqqa and Tabqa. In response, MSF distributed water and essential relief items, and ran mobile clinics in Raqqa, Tabqa, and Hassakeh. To increase access to safe water, we rehabilitated boreholes in Deir ez-Zor and Hassakeh, and operated a water purification plant in Al-Hol camp. We also continued to run our clinic in Al-Hol camp, and support others in Hassakeh and Raqqa, to ensure people had access to treatment for non-communicable diseases and mental health conditions.

Following renewed violence in Aleppo's Sheikh Maqsoud neighbourhood in September and December, which led to massive waves of displacement towards the northeast of the country, we distributed essential relief items to families.

In Homs governorate, MSF supported a general healthcare centre by expanding sexual and reproductive health services, renovating the facility, and providing equipment and staff incentives. We also donated trauma kits to hospitals. In Homs governorate, we improved services at the blood diseases centre and blood bank through the provision of medications, training, and infrastructure upgrades. In Tartus, we donated dialysis machines and trained hospital staff.

*UNHCR: https://www.unhcr.org/news/press-releases/unhcr-historic-return-displaced-syrians-presents-opportunity-and-urgent

**UN OCHA: https://www.unocha.org/publications/report/syrian-arab-republic/syrian-arab-republic-flash-update-no-8-escalation-hostilities-sweida-governorate-22-august-2025