After 14 years of war in Syria, the fall of President Bashar al-Assad on December 8, 2024, fueled hopes in humanitarian circles of an influx of international aid to a country in ruins, where 16.5 million people depend on it for their daily needs. Instead, they were dealt a crushing blow with the announcement on January 20 by newly inaugurated American president Donald Trump of the 90-day suspension of foreign development aid programs.

"It's catastrophic. It's decimated the humanitarian response," said one source working in northeastern Syria. In this region, administered by Kurdish forces backed by the US-led international coalition against the Islamic State (IS), American aid makes up a significant portion of the humanitarian response.

In Syria as a whole, assistance provided by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and agencies linked to the US State Department accounted for around a quarter of donations in 2024. "This negatively affects the entire economic cycle. Any money that comes in across borders has a domino effect. There's already no money in circulation. And it's not just about money, it's also about expertise and an entire ecosystem," said Yakzan Shishakly, director of NGO the Maram Foundation.

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