Syria: Fighting In Sweida Leaves Families without Food, Water, Medical Care, with Save the Children Ready to Supply Aid

DAMASCUS (July 21, 2025)—Families in Syria’s Sweida Governorate are trapped without medical care, clean water or enough food after fighting closed hospitals, cut off roads and broken water systems, said Save the Children, calling for immediate safe access for aid.

Intense fighting has driven more than 93,000 people from their homes in the past 10 days, according to the United Nations, emptying whole communities and leaving bodies lying in the streets, with reports of children among the unburied.

Hundreds of people have been reported killed, including women, children and medical personnel, since fighting broke out on July 11, with repeated ceasefire deals collapsing within hours and sporadic shelling, sniper fire and Israeli airstrikes continuing.

Save the Children teams have life-saving food, water, medical supplies and essential relief items, including emergency shelter materials and hygiene kits, pre-positioned and ready to deploy as soon as safe access is secured.

A Save the Children staff member* from Sweida said: “The situation is extremely difficult. The news and rumors we hear are terrifying and everyone is afraid. My family and I left home last Tuesday and fled as far as we could, to a village near the Jordanian border where we are now staying with relatives, together with 10 other families in the same house. About 20 villages that I know of now stand almost empty. Even places that have not been attacked were deserted because people feared for their lives.

“Moving around is not an option. People do not have fuel, and they are lining up to charge their phones from the few solar panels available. Yesterday the medical teams at Sweida hospital issued an SOS—supplies are running out, bodies lie unburied and disease is spreading. Everyone is frightened of what may come next. No aid or emergency response has reached my village.”

Bujar Hoxha, Country Director, Save the Children Syria: “After 14 relentless years, Syria’s boys and girls should be chasing dreams, not dodging bullets. Yet today, we see them sinking deeper into terror, trauma, and the fear that tomorrow might never come.

“Foreign warplanes and armed groups are stoking a fire that could engulf the whole country. To every fighter holding a gun, and every capital holding power, I say this: Silence your weapons, safeguard the roads for aid, and stand with Syria’s children. The children of Syria ask for no miracles—just an end to the violence, a clear path for food and medicine, and a chance to heal.”

Save the Children is calling on all sides to honor the current ceasefire, protect children and allow emergency teams and aid convoys to enter Syria’s southernmost province.

Humanitarian corridors must be opened and kept safe day and night so medical evacuations and families on the move can pass without fear. Regional and international organizations must redouble diplomacy, scale up funding and support first responders to reach trapped communities, recover bodies with dignity and prevent disease.

Since 2012, Save the Children has reached more than 11 million people, including over 5 million children, across Syria with food, water, healthcare, education and psychosocial support. We stand ready to scale up our response for Sweida’s children the moment corridors open and safety is guaranteed.

*Name not included for safety