The price of bread in Syria

3 September 2014 - Syria's intensifying refugee crisis has passed a record 3 million people. "Almost half of all Syrians have now been forced to abandon their homes and flee for their lives" said the UNHCR.

The continually deteriorating situation for civilians is causing ever more people to flee their homes. In addition to worsening security, the latest refugee arrivals report increasing difficulty in finding work; rocketing food and commodity prices; and failing services. A packet of bread in one village near the city of Idlib costs ten times more this year than last, according to a new arrival in Jordan.

In an attempt to feed the hungry, and give supplies to meet the demand, the WFP and partners crossed lines over the past six weeks in a massive effort to deliver relief aid. The initiative has reached more than 580,000 people, more than four times the 137,000 people reached in the preceding six weeks.

Since July 25, a total of five cross-border convoys carried food rations including rice, lentils, oil, pasta, bulgur, canned food, wheat flour, beans, salt and sugar for 69,500 people in the hard-to-reach areas of Aleppo, Idleb, Quneitra and Da’ra governorates. “We are reaching more people every day with urgently needed food assistance – many of them have been going hungry for months,” said Muhannad Hadi, WFP’s Regional Emergency Coordinator for the Syria crisis.

Widespread fighting and insecurity continues to hinder WFP’s access to many parts of the country. The WFP will need to raise $35 million USD a week to meet the food needs of families affected by the conflict in Syria and refugees in neighbouring countries.

The food aid funnelled to Syrians in need in the past year alone has fed 1.7 million refugees. Yet since the beginning of the crisis in March 2011, UNHCR has registered refugees faster than at any time in its history. "Syrians are now the world's largest refugee population under UNHCR care, second only in number to the decades-long Palestinian crisis. The Syria operation is now the largest in UNHCR's 64-year history," the statement said.

UNRIC's related links:

UNRIC's backgrounder on the Syrian Arab Republic
UNRIC's backgrounder on Migration
UNRIC's backgrounder on the Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict

UNRIC's article on Admission needs of Syrian Refugees
UNRIC's article on Accountability in Syria
UNRIC's article on Europe's reception of Syrian Refugees