Damascus: Qatar continues its support for the Syrian people through a wide range of humanitarian and development projects carried out by its official and charitable institutions across various Syrian governorates.
These efforts aim to strengthen the partnership between the two countries and respond to both urgent and long-term needs in vital sectors, amid the conditions that have followed years of crisis and the ongoing challenges facing reconstruction.
Since the beginning of the crisis in Syria, Qatar Charity (QC), Qatar Red Crescent (QRCS), and the Qatar Fund for Development (QFFD) have been at the forefront of humanitarian action.
They have swiftly provided emergency and long-term aid in close coordination with international and local humanitarian organizations, and official institutions.
Their interventions span sectors such as health, shelter, education, food security, infrastructure, and economic empowerment projects.
Speaking to QNA, Director of Qatar Charity’s office in Turkiye and Syria Karam Ali said that since the beginning of the Syrian crisis, the QC has implemented more than 4,800 projects, with a total cost of around QR750m. These projects, he said, have focused on health, shelter, food security, and education. He noted that the immediate response to the February earthquake amounted to around QR 70 million, providing emergency shelters such as tents and prefabricated homes, along with food baskets and other essential supplies. Ali explained that Qatar Charity used various mechanisms, either directly or through partners in Turkiye and Syria, in line with UN Security Council resolutions on cross-border humanitarian operations, as Northern Syria has been a primary focus of these efforts. Among QC’s key achievements in the region is the establishment of “City of Hope”, which houses 1,400 families and includes schools, health centers, a kindergarten, a market, and integrated service facilities. More than 2,000 homes have been built, either individually or as part of residential communities, he added.
Head of QRCS’s representation mission in Syria and Turkiye Mazen Abdullah Salloum told QNA that since 2012, the mission has provided a comprehensive response to the Syrian crisis across eight vital sectors, benefiting over 13 million people with total expenditures exceeding $160 million.
Salloum said that QRCS was the first humanitarian organization to deliver relief aid across the border into Syria following the devastating earthquake, in coordination with Qatar Fund for Development, as aid was distributed both in Syria and Turkiye. President of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent Dr. Mohammed Hazem Baqleh told QNA that cooperation with Qatar Red Crescent has notably developed since Dec. 8 last year, including support for poor families with food baskets, conducting heart surgeries for children, and seasonal projects such as sacrificial offerings during Eid Al-Adha and Ramadan support.
Minister of Social Affairs and Labour Hind Kabawat expressed to QNA Syria’s pride in its relationship with Qatar, praising the humanitarian, moral, and material support Qatar provides to the Syrian people.
