AID agencies face a race against time as Syria’s refugee and humanitarian crisis rapidly worsens.
This is the warning given by one of the biggest humanitarian agencies operating in the region that says airstrikes and the onset of a bitter winter are combining to take a terrible human toll.
Speaking exclusively to the Sunday Herald, Rae McGrath, Director of Mercy Corps for Turkey and North Syria, said that what we are now witnessing is the worst humanitarian crisis he has encountered in over three decades as an aid worker.
“Coming up to winter both in north Syria and in Turkey we are in a race against time and need to recognise that a lot of people who have left their homes in Syria or fled to Turkey have left everything behind.”
McGrath says that any money many of those displaced had has now been spent in order to survive and substantial numbers are now living in the remains of old farm buildings, shop fronts and sometimes in the open.
McGrath, whose organisation has its European headquarters in Edinburgh, spoke to the Sunday Herald during a week long journey that saw the newspaper follow the route taken by refugees from the Turkey-Syria border through the Turkish port cities of Izmir and Bodrum to the Greek island of Kos.
McGrath’s remarks come as France this week joined Russia in stepping up airstrikes against Islamic State (IS) targets inside Syria.
The UK may soon follow suit, with Prime Minister David Cameron signalling his determination to seek Commons support for extending RAF air strikes against IS from Iraq into Syria.
The latest warnings over the worsening humanitarian situation also follow in the wake of the Paris terror attacks that have seriously challenged the continuity of the the Schengen Agreement, which eliminated border controls in Europe.
Many Syrian refugees now en-route to Europe fear that any political backlash to the Paris attacks will only make their already hazardous and difficult journey even more exacting.
“I have lived with the thugs of Islamic State (IS) for years in my district, watching them throw people from buildings, beheading or stoning people to death, this is why I’m here now with my family trying to get to Germany,” explained one Syrian man from Aleppo, who spoke last week on the Greek island of Kos while waiting for the ferry to Athens in the wake of the Paris attacks that have now claimed the lives of at least 130 people.
Aid workers insist that the best possible answer to the Paris outrage is to keep the door open to those people who themselves are fleeing terror in Syria and risking their lives to seek the safety of Western Europe.
Mercy Corps like many humanitarian agencies points to a recent dramatic escalation in the numbers of refugees now displaced within Syria itself as well as those crossing the border into Turkey because of an intensified bombardment by Russian warplanes since Moscow’s intervention in the conflict. The additional involvement of France and possibly the UK would only further result in many more fleeing their homes say relief workers.
“We started pre-positioning winter kits up to three months ago but unfortunately what we find the reality to be is that we face two massive waves of displacement,” said Dalia Al-Awqati, Director of Programmes in North Syria for Mercy Corps.


Speaking at a warehouse in the Turkish city of Gaziantep surrounded by winterisation supplies ready to be ferried by truck across the volatile border into Syria, she explained the obstacles aid workers face from the latest fighting.
“The provision of assistance in areas close to front lines is challenging if not impossible,” says Al-Awqati.
“Due to the repetitive airstrikes within short timeframes people are uncertain about what they should consider safe and what not, so multiple displacements have been increasing during the last weeks as people fleeing active frontlines are not able anymore to identify safe locations.”
In terms of drawing direct links to the Russian airstrikes, the latest figures recorded by aid workers show some 73,398 people displaced.
In Aleppo some 50,911 have recently been displaced from a mixture of Russian and other airstrikes as well as advances by Syrian government forces.
Many of those recently displaced like Raina a young mother from Aleppo who with her family recently fled the intense bombardment say the situation is grimmer than ever.
“Around Aleppo it is terrible, and with winter approaching even here in Turkey we’re still living in really bad conditions,” she explained sitting in the small room her family shares with many other refugees in a tumbledown house in the Turkish port city of Izmir.
Coping with the needs of refugees in Turkey like Raina and those civilians displaced inside Syria itself poses a major challenge for aid agencies in the months ahead.
“We need to get together what is needed to keep them alive though the winter, particularly to stop children, disabled and elderly people from suffering through these coming months,” explains McGrath, outlining the priorities for Mercy Corps and other relief agencies.
All this too comes before the needs of many more refugees who can now be expected to head for Europe.
Those making this journey are themselves also increasingly victims of the smugglers and traffickers who ‘organise’ their passage across the Aegean to the Greek islands.
At every stage they remain vulnerable prey to the predatory gangs now operating for vast profits. Where once there was a comparatively small scale local operation, there is increasing evidence of organised criminal networks taking over as the numbers of refugees increases and the potential profits to be made grow in tandem.
“What’s really happening here is that the traffickers and people who are controlling this movement of people are becoming rich because Europe has not woken up and is still in denial that this is a huge crisis and a people on the move,” says McGrath.
From fake lifejackets filled with bubble wrap stitched together in backstreet shops along the Turkish coast costing a few hundred Turkish lira, to the thousands of US dollars charged per person for passage in unseaworthy rubber dinghies across to the Greek islands, the smugglers make money at every turn.
For now the outrage generated by the brutality of the Paris attack has predictably led to more bombings in retribution. France itself has launched dozens of airstrikes on the Islamic State’s de facto capital of Raqqa. There are also renewed calls to close Europe’s borders to refugees and asylum seekers.
Many now in the aid community and beyond are clearly frustrated by the emphasis on military action rather than renewed efforts at making political and diplomatic progress in seeking a solution to the Syrian crisis.
“I’ve often felt like a helpless spectator,” says McGrath, summing up the frustrations of many trying to bring humanitarian relief to those civilians caught in this worsening crisis.
“It’s as if Joseph Heller and Kafka got together to write a bad novel about how you don’t bring war to an end.”