Amid the deteriorating humanitarian situation, Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) volunteers remain active on frontlines across Syria. Together with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), volunteers continue to defy the challenges faced in delivering neutral and impartial humanitarian assistance to millions of people in need.
Since the onset of the conflict and until today, SARC suffered the loss of 34 volunteers who died in the line of duty. Tens of volunteers were also wounded, as was the case during the month of April in Homs.
Nevertheless, SARC volunteers continue to deliver food, blankets, kitchen sets, and other aid to tens of thousands of people in government and opposition-held areas throughout the country. In Deir Ezzor, Raqqa, Dara’a, Aleppo, Homs, Rural Damascus, Tartous and Latakkia they work to provide clean drinking water and proper wastewater treatment, as well as repairs to water networks in cooperation with local water authorities. Moreover, SARC volunteers provide emergency medical services to people wounded by the fighting in government and opposition-held areas as well.
The ICRC, IFRC, Danish, German, Norwegian and Iraqi Red Cross Red Crescent national societies in-country provide financial, material, and technical support to SARC. This allows SARC volunteers, now numbering around 10,000 in 14 branches, to deliver not only water, sanitation, and relief aid, but also emergency health care and a lot of primary health care services through its clinics and Mobile Health Units, as well as services that trace and reunite separated family members.
“As we celebrate 8 May, the day of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, we remind the world about the people suffering in disaster areas who need support and help from all of us and to stress our commitment as a movement to help those in need in Syria and everywhere,” said Dr. Abdul Rahman Attar, president of the SARC.
