Inside Idlib, Syria: “All my land was burned by rockets.”
Published: Jul 22, 2019 Reading time: 2 minutes
“We left home with only two mattresses, two blankets and some of our belongings,” Anwar told us, gesturing around the small bare room. “This is all we were able to bring.”
It is every family’s nightmare—to have flee their home, taking almost nothing with them. For Anwar, his wife, his sons and his grandchildren, this fear became a reality a few weeks ago.
Anwar’s family had been farmers, raising sheep and planting fields of barley. But repeated bombings drove them out. “All my land was burned by rockets,” Anwar told us. “All the villagers left. They have nothing now.”
Since May, an escalation in fighting in north-west Syria has driven an additional 330,000 families from their homes. This is on top of the widespread destruction, deaths, and displacement that the region was already facing after eight years of war.
“It is still continuing,” Anwar told us. “It stopped for a few days, then started again yesterday.” It is every family’s nightmare—to have flee their home, taking almost nothing with them. For Anwar, his wife, his sons and his grandchildren, this fear became a reality a few weeks ago.
Listen to Anwar’s story here, which provides a vivid account of life in Syria right now.
Every day, approximately 4,000 people in Syria are still forced to flee their homes because of the conflict. People in Need provides cash grants and other immediate forms of support to help vulnerable families through this upheaval. Anwar’s family received their cash grant thanks to the generous support of USAID’s Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance.
