Syria One Year After Assad: Between Hope and Despair
Welthungerhilfe calls for long-term and sufficient international support for reconstruction
Bonn/Berlin, 2025-12-02. One year after the fall of Bashar al-Assad, Syria is at a pivotal turning point. Hundreds of thousands of people have returned to their homes, where daily life is shaped by destroyed infrastructure and a lack of basic services. More than two thirds of the population depend on humanitarian assistance.
9.1 million people are facing acute hunger. Despite the immense needs, international support remains insufficient: only 27 per cent of the US$3.2 billion envisaged in the UN humanitarian response plan for 2025 has been funded so far.
“The scale of the destruction is shocking”
Lennart Lehmann, Welthungerhilfe (WHH) Syria Representative, paints a bleak picture: “Daily life remains extremely difficult for large parts of the population. One third of the infrastructure has been destroyed, and entire towns have been wiped out by the fighting. The scale of the destruction is shocking. The water supply is completely inadequate in many places, and schools and health centres have been severely damaged. Even food is hard to come by in many areas. Rents are prohibitively high, and competition for jobs is intense.”
Ausama Almorei, a Syrian member of WHH staff, returned to Damascus after spending twelve years in Turkey and describes having mixed feelings: “The liberation of Syria on 8 December 2024 was a great day. But now, after a year, we are asking ourselves: will there be reconstruction or not? We are very worried about that.” The current living situation is extremely stressful: “A loaf of bread now costs ten times as much as it did two years ago. There is no affordable housing, and schools are overcrowded.” Yet his greatest wish remains clear: “My biggest hope for Syria is peace – and that the country does not fall apart.”
According to the UN, since December 2024, more than three million refugees and internally displaced people have returned to their home regions in Syria. The approaching winter, with its rain and snow, will worsen conditions in villages and camps even further. “Reconstruction will take decades,” stresses Lehmann. “To give people a fair chance of a new start, they need clear financial commitments for reconstruction from the international community. For reconstruction to succeed, a minimum level of security for the population and the opportunity to participate in shaping the process are essential. This includes the participation of civil society. Only then can refugees and their families return safely and with dignity.”
WHH has been working in the region since 2013 and currently employs around 50 people in Syria. Its projects focus on food security, water, sanitation and hygiene, agriculture, economic development, and strengthening civil society.
Welthungerhilfe is one of the largest private aid organizations in Germany; it is politically independent and non-denominational. With courage and determination, it is striving for a world without hunger. Since it was founded on December 14, 1962, 12,777 overseas projects in about 72 countries and territories have been supported with 5.42 billion euros. Welthungerhilfe follows the principle of empowering people to help themselves to sustainably improve their living conditions, through approaches ranging from fast disaster relief to reconstruction and long-term development cooperation projects with national and international partner organizations.
