Syria: A devastating decade and a crisis that rippled across the region and the world

Syria is entering its eleventh year of a brutal and unrelenting crisis. The conflict has been characterized by destruction on a vast scale, massive internal displacement and a refugee crisis that has reverberated around the world, as well as a shocking disregard for the laws of armed conflict.

 The humanitarian needs across the entire country are immense and rising at a pace that threatens to outstrip and even overwhelm existing capacities to respond, exacerbated by the worst economic crisis since the conflict began and a global COVID-19 pandemic.

 No political breakthrough means a dire outlook for 2021 for millions of Syrians inside and outside the country. They have already endured a decade of violence, displacement and shattered family ties, loss of life and livelihoods, devastated cities and infrastructure.

 The ICRC and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent will continue to respond to emergencies and work across Syria to provide vital services responding to the most pressing needs, carrying out urgent repairs to critical water infrastructure, distributing food and daily hot meals to the most vulnerable people, and supporting healthcare services in communities and in camps.

 Note to editors:

1.    In March 2021, the International Committee of the Red Cross will release a survey and report on the experiences of young Syrians during the past decade. Supporting video footage will be available on icrcnewsroom.org. Please email Sara Alzawqari salzawqari@icrc.org  and Ruth Hetherington rhetherington@icrc.org  for more information.

2.    This b-roll contains ICRC footage from 2012 to February 2021. The International Committee of the Red Cross has been working in Syria since 1967, alongside the Syrian Arab Red Crescent. The ICRC operation in Syria is its largest worldwide, with roughly 750 employees in total. Delegations in Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq also work with displaced Syrians and those feeling the impact of the crisis.

3.    The International Committee of the Red Cross is an independent, neutral organization ensuring humanitarian protection and assistance for victims of armed conflict and other situations of violence. It acts in response to emergencies and promotes respect for international humanitarian law and its implementation in national law.

Follow the ICRC on facebook.com/icrc and twitter.com/icrc

SHOTLIST

Location: Various – Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Switzerland (details below)

Date: Various, 2012-2021

On-screen Credit: ICRC

Length: 20.00

Format: HD mp4

Language: Arabic, English

Al Zaatari camp, Jordan. December 2012

00:00 General views of Al Zaatari refugee camp, Jordan

00:14 Syrian refugees waiting to call home in front of an ICRC prefab

00:19 Syrian refugees calling home with the help of the ICRC RFL program

North Lebanon, May 2012

00:55 Red Cross workers take patient out of ambulance and into hospital (2 shots)

01:04 Heavily veiled patient

01:09 CU of patient’s two amputated legs

Geneva, Switzerland, September 2012

01:13 Soundbite Peter Maurer, President ICRC (in English)

“We see a lot of people injured, health points with insufficient medicine, with few staff to attend a lot of patients. You see a lot of shelling having gone on. Apartment buildings destroyed or burnt. You see children under shock from the violence going on - all consequences of an armed conflict unfolding in front of you.”

Turkish-Syrian border, May 2013

01:45 Syrians walking towards border post to cross into Turkey

02:07 Syrians crossing the border

02:16 Turkish border crossing

02:19 Soundbite Syrian Refugee (Arabic)

“We are coming to seek refuge here. Our houses have been destroyed. Our children, women and elderly have been forced to flee. We all left.

Idlib, Syria, May 2013

02:25 Qah displacement camp Idlib Syria

02:38 Children in camp, including amputee

Jordan, November 2013

02:53 Large view of prefab and tent, Refugee camp in Ruwaishid area

02:58 Refugees in front of tent and prefab (3 shots)

03:11 Refugees in front of ICRC prefab and ICRC truck

03:19 Food distribution (3 shots)

Sehnaya, Syria, January 2014

03:36 ICRC cars driving past damaged buildings

03:41 Outside shots of building used by displaced people in Sehnaya, Syria with ICRC President and SARC volunteers.

03:48 ICRC President visiting inside

03:52 ICRC President speaking with a resident and the harsh conditions they must endure, Syrian says: “Actually at the moment it is not possible there” (to return home) translated by ICRC colleague

04:00 Shot of makeshift heating arrangement

04:05 ICRC President speaking with children

Al Zaatari camp, Jordan, October 2014

04:13 WS pan Zaatari refugee camp

04:20 MS street in camp, containers

04:24 MS camp market

04:29 Mohammad Homsi, a Syrian refugee goes into his tent

04:34 Child washing face and hands inside tent

04:40 Mohammad Homsi picks up his daughter

04:46 MS kids watching TV, grandfather in bed in background

04:51 Soundbite Mohammad Homsi, Syrian refugee in Jordan, Zaatari camp (in Arabic)

“Our village had 3500 people, a quarter of them were Christians, the rest Muslims, explains Mohammad. “We all lived peacefully together. Then the bombing started…we were getting 60 missiles an hour. The whole population left – there were no more Christians, no more Muslims.”

05:15   Mohammad showing mobile phone pictures of their house in Syria to his son

05:19 CU of pictures

05:23 WS camp exterior

05:27 WS tents exterior

Sweida Province, Syria, December 2014

05:30 GVs of Syrian Refugee camp (4 shots)

05:45 ICRC and Syrian Arab Red Crescent doing needs assessment and checking water tank (4 shots)

Chebaa, Lebanon August 2015 (A town which was housing around 3,000 Syrian refugees)

05:54   Syrian refugee Zahr-el-Ban Making tea (3 shots)

06:08 Interview Zahr-el-Ban, Syrian refugee with missing husband

“My husband has been missing for three and a half years. I am a mother of two children and life without him is very miserable. I have no money, no support... except the support of God.”

06:25 Interview Zahr-el-Ban, Syrian refugee with missing husband

“My life is on hold. I live hoping he returns. I pray to God that he comes back and that he is alive. I want to stop saying he’s missing. I wish he’d come back to his children, his family, his home and his life.”

Jabal Badro, Eastern Aleppo November 2015

06:45 Al-Saghir boiling kettle (2 shots)

06:55 Al-Saghir and her children immersed in smoke (2 shots)

07:06 Soundbite Amina al-Saghir (in Arabic)

“I am very worried about the upcoming winter because last winter was tough and we struggled. My children are very sick because we have no heater no covers no mattresses, we have absolutely nothing. Our house was damaged in shelling and all our properties were destroyed.”

07:26 Al-Saghir children

On the road to Madaya, Syria January 2016

07:30 SARC trucks on their way deliver aid to Madaya

Moaddamiyeh, Rural Damascus, February 2016

07:38 ICRC truck bringing aid to Moaddamiyeh

07:42 Crowd gathering on the buffer zones waiting for the ICRC-SARC to deliver aid

07:49 People receiving food aid and hygiene kits (3 shots)

08:04 Soundbite Salam (in Arabic)

“My name is Salam, I'm 14 years old with kidney failure. We are not allowed to live out our childhood.  We have no sweets to eat and nothing to keep us warm.  Why are they doing this to us? We want the roads to be open again, our house is fully destroyed.”

08:29 Soundbite Um Ahmad (in Arabic)

“There is no source of heating, no firewood, my children and I on the street all day to warm up in the sun, my daughter 7 years old went and back to school in this cold weather, we just need anything to feel warm, anything you can provide.”

08:47 Soundbite Um Khaled (in Arabic)

“We are afraid of the shelling, the destruction, our children are suffering from the lack of food and malnutrition, my four children have malnutrition, and there is no food, no fruits, and no milk.”

Various locations, Syria February 2016

08:57 Destruction Syria, various (4 shots)

09:10 Ruined hospital with operating theatre light still visible

Homs, Syria February 2016

09:13 ICRC convoy driving through Homs

09:18 Interior hospital operating theatre dark

09:25 Peter Maurer with newborn baby in incubator

09:29 Soundbite ICRC President Peter Maurer

“Most of the destruction has taken place in densely populated areas in cities, and in those areas, we see the most of the suffering as well.”

Al Rastan besieged area, Homs, Syria April 2016

09:39 Humanitarian convoy on route to Al Rastan (4 shots)

Daraya, Syria June 2016

10:06 ICRC convoy in Daraya (3 shots)

Aleppo, Syria December 2016

10:21 Displaced people and ICRC worker (3 shots)

10:34 New arrivals of displaced people getting off bus (2 shots)

10:43 Inside Jibreen crowded shelter (3 shots)

11:01 SARC & ICRC water points

Aleppo, Syria December 2016

11:05 Convoy of ICRC vehicles as seen through front window of another ICRC vehicle

11:10 Convoy of ICRC vehicles as seen through back window of another ICRC vehicle.

11:15 ICRC staff and SARC volunteers observing convoy ambulances passing by.

11:20 SARC ambulances in convoy with ICRC vehicles

11:25 SARC volunteers taking wounded man to ambulance.

Raqqa, Syria July 2017

11:30 ICRC cars entering the area of Raqqa governorate

Hassakeh, Syria July 2017

11:36 Wide shot of Mabrouka Camp

11:40 Rubbish dumps are seen in between tents. Children at Mabrouka camp walk (and play) beside the piles of rubbish daily

11:46 Wide shot of Arisha camp

11:51 Rubbish dumps in Arisha camp are next to the tents where people live

12:02 Red Crescent workers are surrounded by some of those displaced, now living in Arisha camp

12:06 Pan shot of the inside of a tent in Arisha camp

Raqqa, Syria August 2017

12:12 Shots from the car while driving to Ain Issa Camp, passing destroyed houses outside of the camp – which is seen in the distance

12:17 Passing empty huts by the road

12:23 Shot of a big tent in Ain Issa camp, with people lying on mattresses

12:29 Driving closer to Tweihaneyeh camp, showing the dust and a man in front of the camp

12:34 Wide shot of the tents in Tweihaneyeh camp – people gathering around ICRC and Syrian Arab Red Crescent staff (2 shots)

12:45 Marianne Gasser, head of the ICRC delegation in Syria, follows a woman in Tweihaneyeh camp to some of the tents

Eastern Ghouta, Syria, December 2017

12:50 medical evacuation in Eastern Ghouta (6 shots)

Eastern Ghouta, Syria, March 2018

13:30 ICRC + SARC + UN convoy on route to the town of Douma

13:35 Soundbite (in Arabic) woman:

“The children have not seen the sunlight for 15 to 20 days.  Can no-one help us?
13:39 Why is no one helping us? Can’t anyone come to us? Why can’t someone stop this situation?
13:44 Until when will the world stay silent?

13:51 We need crossings to let the besieged people go out.  People here are fed up. We want the shelling to stop.

13:58 A kid deprived of his father, and there is no medicine, no food, no water, there is nothing here, life is depressing here... What can we do?”

Eastern Ghouta, Syria, October 2018

14:09 Walking shot through destroyed streets

14:14 Ruined streets from ICRC vehicle

14:19 Interior hospital, destruction

14:24 Street destruction

Areesha Camp, Hassakeh, Syria December 2018

14:29 WS Flooded camp

14:34 Muddy camp

14:38 Soundbite Abu Abed (Original Arabic)

“The flooding has affected many people in the camp. The children have been hit especially hard, they really suffer in this cold weather.”

14:46 Soundbite Um Ahmed (Original Arabic)

“We got some food and blankets from the ICRC and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent. But we are really afraid of the floods and the winter.”

14:58 Old person and child struggle through mud

15:03 Child fetching water

15:09 Water truck

15:14 Children running through camp

15:19 Children with ICRC delegate

15:24 Clothes drying on fence, flood waters

Al Hol Camp, Hassakeh, Syria March 2019

15:30 Crowd of women and children, outdoor, windy

15:37 Small child sitting outdoors in camp

15:42 Crowd of women and children, outdoor, windy

15:47 Exterior ICRC/SARC centre

15:52 Various food preparation and distribution (3 shots)

16:05 Children in camp

Al Hol Camp, Hassakeh, Syria May 2019

16:10 Omar having his wounds cleaned by a SARC volunteer from the SARC ambulance.

(Omar is one of many who could benefit from the new field hospital. He is ten years old, and was badly injured by mortar shelling during the hostilities in the area he fled from). (2 shots)

16:23 Omar moving around the camp in his wheelchair and being pushed by his younger brother Yahia. (2 shots)

Aleppo, Syria, February 2019

16:33 Aleppo (3 shots) drone footage

Deir Ezzour Syria, February 2019

16:47 Deir Ezzour (5 shots) drone footage

Rural Damascus, Syria, February 2019

17:11 Rural Damascus (4 shots) drone footage

Deir Ezzour Syria, May 2020

17:30 Deir Ezzor, Shots of destroyed city (2 shots) drone footage

Hassakeh, Syria October 2019

17:43 Hassekah,: Water shortages, delivering water to the community. (3 shots)

Al Hol Camp, Hassakeh, Syria April 2020

17:57 Al Hol Camp, infection control measures, hand-washing, social distancing in waiting areas, and general views of camp. (4 shots)

Homs, Syria June 2020

18:13 Babr Amr Collective Kitchen, supported by ICRC and SARC, Homs (5 shots)

Damascus, Syria June 2020

18:38 Khalil Al falah setting up his shop selling goods he was able to buy with the support from ICRC and SARC (3 shots)

18:52 Soundbite 2, Khalil:

“Sometimes, my wife and I go to the vegetable market to buy supplies; we buy sugar, fat, oil, canned food and then we re-sell them.”

19:08 Soundbite 3, Khalil:

“Sometimes we end up using some of the products we intend to sell for ourselves; we need to eat. We’re craving tomatoes and onions, we can’t afford them anymore.”

Hama, Syria April 2020

19:18 Hama Main Bakery, supported by ICRC and SARC, April 2020 (3 shots)

Rural Damascus, Syria, February 2021

19:30 ICRC car driving under the rain

19:35 ICRC car driving under the snow

19:40 ICRC car driving in the water under a bridge

Swaida, Syria February 2021

19:57 Farmer working in his field (2 shots)