USAID FREEZE IMPACT ON HUMANITARIAN AID IN SYRIA

In the town of Sarmada in northern Syria, Dr. Mohammad Fares, Medical Coordinator of Doctors of the World Türkiye, unlocked a clinic that once bustled with patients. Now it’s empty, and shelves of medicine reduced to a few boxes of bandages and expired drugs.

This is what it looks like after the Trump administration halted U.S. foreign assistance last month. The U.S. Agency for International Development, USAID, issued stop-work orders during a 90-day review for what the administration has alleged is wasteful spending.

Fares had been working in three clinics run by Médecins du Monde, or Doctors of the World Türkiye, offering free health care to the displaced population in northern Syria.

Médecins du Monde/Doctors of the World Türkiye’s clinic in Idlib’s Sarmada used to support 16 camps in the region, assisting approximately 35,000 people. Since the aid freeze, 10 such clinics receiving USAID funding had to close, and the organization had to lay off over 200 people.

“If the support is not resumed, there will be a major disaster and serious harm to vulnerable groups,” said Fares, who heads the organization’s medical programs. “Operating costs of clinics are much lower than those of hospitals. The cessation of work in these clinics will put increased pressure on emergency hospitals and other healthcare facilities.”

This part of Syria lacks centralized government healthcare, leaving people reliant on non-profit providers and making the impact of the sudden U.S. cuts especially dire, aid workers and experts said.