An update on Northwestern

25/3/2020

This report monitors violations that were observed in the period from 15 to 21 of March 2020 in the areas outside the control of the Regime in governorate, Western governorate, Northwest countryside, and Lattakia countryside where more than 3.5 million reside. The Northwest is witnessing a general and sometimes partial calm, as a result of the Turkish-Russian armistice to reduce the escalation on March 6, 2020. No civilian casualties were recorded this week. However, the violations recorded by the Regime forces and their allies, are as follows:

First: The violations recorded by the Syrian civil platform:

Kind of Area The party that did Time and Date Notice Violation the violation

Artillery Idlib - Kansafra Regime forces and 15-3-2020 6 artillery shells their allies 17.00

Artillery Hama – Al- Regime forces and 15-3-2020 Sirmaniya their allies 18.30

Artillery Lattkia – Al-Kbina Regime forces and 15-3-2020 their allies 19.00

Target a Idlib – Kafar Armed opposition 2020-3-16 Target a fortifying bulldozer Nubul factions bulldozer 17.00

Artillery Idlib – Al-Fattira Regime forces and 17-3-2020 their allies 11.30

Missile Idlib – Al-Fattira Regime forces and 17-3-2020 bombing their allies 19.00

Infiltration Idlib – Al-Bara Regime forces and 19-3-2020 Armed factions attempt their allies confronted them 5.00

Missile Idlib – Al-Najiya Regime forces and 19-3-2020 4missiles bombing their allies 10.00

Mortar Idlib – Al-Fattira Regime forces and 20-3-2020 bombing their allies 14.30

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Artillery Idlib – Al-Fattira Regime forces and 20-3-2020 their allies 16.00

Artillery Idlib ( Al-Fattira- Regime forces and 21-3-2020 Kafar Awid) their allies 15.00

Artillery Idlib = Sfouhin Regime forces and 21-3-2020 their allies 17.00

Civilians in "Al- Karama sit-in" hindered the passage of the Turkish-Russian patrol on Aleppo-Lattakia (M4) road on 3/15/2020.

On 3/20/2020, the Turkish army ran a separate patrol on Aleppo - Lattakia road (M4) from the village of Al- Trunbah, all the way to the village of Msibin without Russian participation.

Second: Economic Conditions Economic conditions in the Northwest are still very poor, especially after the Regime forces took control of large areas of agricultural land, which is the main source of income for the population. This also led to an increase in prices of vegetables and fruits in the whole Northwest. Added to this, is the decrease in the value of the Syrian pound against the US dollar, which has led to an increase in commodity prices, coupled with the weak purchasing power of the population. The situation is made worse by the continued rise in fuel prices due to the closure of the road between the Northeast and Northwest by the Syrian Democratic Forces, which was providing the needs of the Northwest with fuel in sufficient quantities. Fuel is currently being supplied through import through Bab Al-Hawa border crossing with Turkey in limited quantity and high prices. The crossing with Turkey remains open to the movement of commercial and relief shipments only.

Third - The Housing Crisis for The Displaced: The Northern countryside of Idlib, near the Turkish border, is witnessing a very large population congestion, which exceeded its absorptive capacity. Displaced people also sought agricultural lands and mountains and lived in the open and in villages, some of them were also housed in schools and mosques. The areas controlled by the Regime forces are still completely empty. Areas that were controlled in the previous military campaign and but are far from the lines of contact at present (Khan Sheikhoun, , Kafr Zita, Qalaat al-Madiq) are also abandoned. On the other hand, despite the continued violations by the Regime forces, some villages in the Southern Idlib countryside and Western Aleppo have witnessed the displaced returning home. 5311 people out of the total number of IDPs during the last military campaign of 1041233 people, or 0.51% have returned home thus far. Page 2 of 3

The IDPs in the area are also suffering from difficult humanitarian conditions, especially with bad weather conditions. The number of camps that were affected by the rainfall reached 9, all of them are random camps and inhabited by 1317 families. In addition, suffering of the IDPs has increased due to the weak response of the organizations towards fulfilling their humanitarian needs, especially shelter, food, education, water, sanitation and heating fuel. The situation is worse for IDPs that are still homeless, or those living in tents on the agricultural lands and mountains.

Fourth: The educational process:

The Directorate of Education in Idlib extended the suspension of working hours for another week, starting on 21/3/2020. It had orginally issued a decision on 14/3/2020 to suspend working hours in private and public schools and educational institutes for a week, in order to ensure the safety of students and educational staff from “Coronavirus”.

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