The syrian salvation government

Introduction 

Humanitarian needs have increased dramatically in northwest Syria, with residents, opposition supporters and the internally displaced seeking refuge in the region. There are approximately 2,771,739 people in opposition-held areas of northwest Syria, 1,854,166 of whom are internally displaced persons (IDPs) who live in IDP camps and collective shelters. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that both local and displaced populations in the opposition-controlled northwest share the same humanitarian needs, including food security, shelter, access to basic services, health facilities, and education. Martin Griffiths, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, stated that a combination of hostilities, economic crisis, water shortages and COVID-19 have raised humanitarian needs in Syria to their highest levels since the beginning of the conflict. However, the 2021 Humanitarian Response Plan received only a quarter of the requested funding.

The opposition-controlled northwest of Syria has also witnessed major internal military and political unrest in recent years. This upheaval began when Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) succeeded in excluding its rivals and imposed absolute military control over opposition areas in Idleb. This was followed shortly by the emergence of the Syrian Salvation Government (SSG), which has systematically consumed previous local administrations and unified governance structures, including administrative, judicial, and service provision directorates, across the opposition-controlled northwest.

The emergence of the SSG has greatly affected the work of humanitarian organizations in northwest Syria. Changes in the administrative landscape have led to a change in the administrative process for implementing humanitarian projects which humanitarian organizations had become accustomed to since early 2015. The local councils, which were operating independently, moved to the SSG's Ministry of Local Administration and Services (MLAS), while the relief offices, which were part of the local councils, moved to the SSG's Ministry of Development and Humanitarian Affairs (MDHA). Further, on October 17 2021, MLAS issued a circular preventing all local councils in its areas of control from communicating directly with humanitarian agencies, stating that all communications must instead be conducted through the MDHA. This came in the absence of a clear policy by the SSG towards humanitarian work and humanitarian organizations. The government has not issued any information or clarifications on the conduct of humanitarian work within these ministries and their affiliated institutions. Key informant interviews concluded that a number of actors involved in the implementation of humanitarian assistance projects are unable to obtain work permits, whether in camps or local communities, and most of them do not have a clear idea of how to act if the organization faces a lawsuit or complaint or have been subjected to attempts to interfere or harass.

This paper examines the administrative structure of the institutions of the SSG concerned with humanitarian affairs and the responsibilities and powers of each of them. It is worth noting that this report is not intended to evaluate the actions or policies of the SSG nor promote it in any way. Instead, this research aims to improve the understanding of humanitarian organizations of how to work within these institutions, navigate procedures, and improve the clarity of reporting of issues when they occur.

For the purposes of this research, humanitarian interventions in northern Syria are divided into two categories: relief assistance (delivered through multiple modalities), such as food baskets and non-food items, and service provision, such as healthcare, education, psychosocial support, WASH, livelihoods, and other sectors. The research for this paper is reliant on qualitative data collected from both primary and secondary sources. Primary data is collected via key informant interviews (KIIs) with a variety of stakeholders involved in the implementation of humanitarian assistance projects including representatives of LNGOs, I/NGOs, and officials of the SSG. Secondary data relies on open-source research.