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)