As many as 3,000 migrants are struggling to survive in appalling and freezing conditions in northern Bosnia and Herzegovina and are in desperate need of adequate shelter, warm clothes, nutritious food and medical assistance.

Address: Commission Commune de Bienfaisance, Rue Murched Khater, Imm. Mar Mansour, PO Box 22249 Damascus, Syria
Telephone: +963 11 443 6366 Fax: +963 11 443 6369
Email: caritas.info@caritas-sy.com
Facebook: Caritas.Syria Twitter: CaritasSyria
The Council of the heads of the Catholic Churches in Syria founded Caritas Syria in 1954.
At the beginning, Caritas work was very modest due to the fact that poverty rates were low in Syria and there was no big need for humanitarian aid. During the Iraqi war in 2003, Caritas provided assistance to Iraqi refugees, particularly in Aleppo and Hassakeh regions.
With the beginning of the war in Syria in March 2011, and to be able to face the growing needs among the Syrian society, Caritas began to expand to be able to reach the largest possible number of beneficiaries without discrimination between sect, doctrine or religion. The number of its offices, centres and staff (employees and volunteers) increased to cover six regions: Damascus, Aleppo, Homs, the Coastal Area, Hassakeh and Horan.
Through its various projects, Caritas Syria has offered different kinds of aid: food and basic items, education, elderlies support, psycho-social support for children and housing assistance, as the war has deprived most Syrians of any source of income.
Syria’s humanitarian crisis has produced over 6.5 million refugees in neighbouring countries. The number of victims of this fratricidal war has reached more than 400 000, but the figures do not reflect the real cost of the war. Nearly 12 million Syrians are in need, and more than 6 million people have fled the conflict and still are internally displaced.
Caritas Syria works in partnership with existing religious communities as it also cooperates with Shiite and Sunnite humanitarian organizations, in order to reach the maximum number of people in need. Within the Caritas network, Caritas Syria collaborates with: Caritas Germany, Caritas Austria, Caritas Belgium, Caritas England and Wales (CAFOD), Catholic Organisation for Relief and Development Aid (CORDAID), Trócaire, Catholic Relief Services (CRS), Caritas Spain, Caritas Italiana, Secours Catholique (Caritas France), Caritas Switzerland, Caritas Poland, Caritas Japan, Caritas Korea, Development and Peace (Caritas Canada), the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund (SCIAF) and Caritas Internationalis. Caritas Syria’s partners outside the Caritas network include: AED, Barnabas Fund, Solidarietà Internazionale Trinitaria, Stockholm Diocese and Oecumene Netherlands.
Updates from Syria

There are 42,000 asylum seekers trapped on the Greek islands including Lesbos. Caritas has adapted its work to providing help to those stranded.

Caritas workers in Al-Hasakah provide aid to displaced families who were forced from their homes by violence at the start of the military operation in early October.

While many aid agencies are pulling out of the city, Caritas Syria has started its next three-year, €4.1 million project for Aleppo, aimed at reaching 70,000 of its most vulnerable residents.

Syria reaches a grim anniversary in March: eight years of civil war. After half a million deaths, with 11.6 million people forced from home, the nation is on its knees. Caritas is working inside Syria to help rebuild shattered lives.

Caritas Syria walked side by side with scout groups and the secondary school students of Medaa in the destroyed streets of their village in Ghouta.

The civil war in Syria forced Maram and her family to flee without any possessions. Five years later they’re still homeless and yet to return. Security has improved in the capital, Damascus, and the family’s hometown in the adjoining villages in the Ghouta countryside, but the humanitarian situation remains critical. Winter is on its way ...

Lina’s family has suffered death, hunger, homelessness and been deprived of basic necessities because of Syria’s civil war. They live in Eastern Ghouta, an area that had endured “the longest running siege in modern history”, the UN said in a recent report. In April 2013, pro-government forces encircled what was then a militant-controlled area bordering Damascus, the capital ...

To escape Islamic State militants, Fowziah Daher, a widow and mother of four children, hid alone for several days in a Syrian olive field. She and her family had been seeking refuge at a farm when the militants arrived. She told her children to run away without her. The family had just come on foot ...