The Syria NGO Forum is deeply alarmed by the escalation of military operations across southern Syria in recent weeks, particularly in Daraa and Quneitra governorates.
Local monitors recorded roughly 300 Israeli military operations or violations across the two governorates in June alone, including around 70 ground military operations and 28 raids. The expansion of Israeli military presence into civilian areas, airstrikes, raids, and movement restrictions are placing communities at increasing risk. These restrictions are also limiting access to health care, education, markets and other essential services, while disrupting humanitarian access to affected communities. Families in western Daraa and the Yarmouk Basin have reportedly fled their homes overnight following shelling and troop movements, while others continue to face uncertainty amid ongoing military activity.
These developments come at a time when communities across southern Syria are only beginning to recover from years of conflict, forced displacement, and economic hardship.
In Quneitra, Israeli forces have established nine forward military positions and expanded control to roughly 235 square kilometers within and beyond the UN-monitored area of separation established under the 1974 Disengagement of Forces Agreement, with reported crop damage and forced livestock sales stripping farmers of the resources they depend on to survive. These impacts are particularly severe in rural communities where agriculture and livestock remain primary sources of income, and where damage to water networks, restricted access to agricultural land, and reduced water availability are further undermining household resilience.
Renewed military operations are once again disrupting lives, damaging agricultural land, water networks and civilian infrastructure, restricting civilian movement, and cutting off access to livelihoods and essential services families depend on to rebuild. The destruction or disruption of infrastructure critical to civilian survival risks creating new humanitarian and peacebuilding needs and reversing fragile recovery efforts.
The Syria NGO Forum calls for the immediate cessation of Israeli military operations and presence that places civilians at risk in Syria. We call for full respect for obligations under international law, including international humanitarian law, through the protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure, the facilitation of safe, sustained, and unhindered humanitarian access, and the adoption of all feasible measures to prevent further civilian harm. Humanitarian actors must be granted safe, timely and sustained access to affected communities to assess needs, support affected families and ensure that assistance reaches those most exposed to harm.
The repeated forced displacement of families, the disruption of civilian life, and the growing humanitarian impact of these operations demand urgent action. Preventing further civilian harm and preserving the conditions necessary for safe, dignified, and sustainable recovery must remain an immediate priority.
For more information or interview requests, please contact:
Rosalind Mayfield, CAFOD Media Lead
Melissa Nethersole, CAFOD Media Officer
CAFOD’s out-of-hours media line
CAFOD is the official aid agency of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, and part of Caritas Internationalis, working with communities across Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America to fight poverty and injustice, including those worst hit by climate change. The agency works with people in need, regardless of race, gender, religion or nationality.
CAFOD is funded mainly by voluntary donations from people in the Catholic community of England and Wales. We also receive funding from fellow Catholic charities and development agencies, the DEC, trusts and foundations, and the UK and other governments.
