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00:00Just over a week since the fall of Bashar al-Assad in Syria and world leaders are trying
00:04to work out how they will work with the new Syria and its interim leaders.
00:08A number of countries, including Qatar and Turkey, are re-opening their embassies in
00:12Damascus.
00:13A French diplomatic team due there this Tuesday.
00:15While the group of rebels that took control are still officially a terrorist organisation
00:20to many, the US and the UK have also made direct contact.
00:24British Foreign Secretary David Lammy announcing an aid package for Syrians.
00:30Well today I'm announcing a £50 million package of support and aid to Syria and I support
00:40the ACPA principles that were agreed yesterday.
00:44We want to see a Syrian-led and a Syrian-owned future and we want one that is representative
00:53and inclusive.
00:54That is what partners in the region and allies, close allies, signed up to yesterday and that's
01:02what we'll be encouraging.
01:04We can speak now to the spokesperson for the Norwegian Refugee Council in the Middle East,
01:08to Mr Ahmed Bayram.
01:10Thanks so much for your time.
01:12Hearing there, you know, pledges of aid from the international community are starting to
01:16be made but give us an idea of how much is actually needed in Syria today.
01:21I mean of course Syria has been one of the most underfunded humanitarian catastrophes
01:26I should say in the last few years.
01:29It's great that we're having some attention back to this crisis.
01:34It has been, I mean the funds that have been provided have been on the decline, reaching
01:40or covering only 30% of what is actually needed, which is a few billion dollars.
01:47Of course the scale of what is needed in financial terms is yet to be identified, is
01:53going to be of course in the billions of dollars.
01:56Don't forget this is a country that has seen very little, if any, repairs of all the damaged
02:02infrastructure, destroyed homes, water networks, electricity networks.
02:07So yes, the scale of the needs, it's going to be in billions and we hope that these governments
02:15who have a stake in making Syria a bright, prosperous country should contribute.
02:22We think that they should contribute to at least, you know, provide some humanitarian
02:26relief at the moment, particularly with the soaring inflation and with the, you know,
02:31skyrocketing needs on the ground.
02:35Billions then needed, you mentioned there the infrastructure which has been virtually
02:38wiped out and yet we're already seeing so many people who have been forced to flee their
02:43homes and flee Syria even, trying to return.
02:46Absolutely, and of course, I mean yet to be seen whether, you know, the numbers will increase
02:53in the coming periods.
02:54We're hearing different reports.
02:56Of course it's going to come down to every individual case.
03:01But the impression is that, and I think over the years I have spoken to many, many Syrians
03:06who always longed to go back one day.
03:11Of course, there are some considerations, there are factors that, you know, decide that,
03:16you know, if you open the tap and there's no water coming out of the tap, you know,
03:21you can't live there if there's no electricity, if there's no bread bakery down the street,
03:27if there's no school.
03:28But of course, those who want to go back should be supported.
03:33They should be supported at their destination because this is their country.
03:37This is where they have been, you know, uprooted from.
03:41And of course, everyone has the right to voluntary, safe, and of course, top of all, informed
03:47return to their home.
03:50And of course, things need to remain stable.
03:53We're getting the impression that in a large amount of the country, it is stable at the
03:58moment.
03:59There's been some fighting in the north, but Islamic State groups still present also.
04:02Are there parts of Syria that remain out of reach?
04:06That's why everybody you ask, everybody we have spoken to tells us number one concern
04:11is security.
04:12They want to be, to feel safe on the streets.
04:15They want their children to feel safe in their schools, you know, like the rest of the people
04:20of the world, really.
04:23Everybody wants that safety.
04:24It's not yet 100 percent.
04:26Of course, there's still, you know, fighting happening, the examples you have counted.
04:32But yes, security remains a top concern.
04:34And this is why we think an end to all hostilities will be the first step towards long-term recovery
04:42for Syrians, long-term rebuilding.
04:45And Syrians are ready for that stage.
04:49But on the ground, things remain, of course, still uncertain in that sense, in terms of
04:56the security situation.
04:57So yes, again, we're asking powers with influence to bring an end to all hostilities and all
05:03sites, of course, to come to that agreement as well.
05:08As you say, the basic vital necessities are, of course, what people need first and foremost.
05:12And so much to be done when you look at getting, yeah, clean running water, electricity and
05:16all of that very vital needs to people where we have our reporters sending us reports from
05:21Aleppo where it looks like it's been all but wiped out.
05:24But on the back of that, we also need to think of the psychological impact of over 13 years
05:29of war.
05:30And what's the situation there?
05:32Is anything being provided?
05:33Absolutely.
05:34Absolutely.
05:35And, you know, I'm here in Jordan and you speak to refugees, and I was in Lebanon.
05:42You know, you speak to people five, six, seven years from the moment they fled home.
05:47They still have nightmares.
05:48They still think back of the days when the bombs fell from the sky, when the explosions
05:54happened around them, the route to safety.
05:57They remember every single detail.
05:59These traumas will live with these children, with these people, with these parents for
06:03years to come.
06:05Organizations like the Norwegian Refugee Council have never stopped offering psychosocial support,
06:09which is mental health support, basically, for these people.
06:13And we get asked, do they still need it?
06:15Yes, they do.
06:16A decade later, over a decade later.
06:19And don't forget, these people who will go back, of course, you know, go back home or
06:24who are still displaced will still have those memories come back to them every now and then.
06:29So the mental health, I'm glad you mentioned that because it's one of those top needs that
06:33people need to feel safe, not just on the street, but also in their minds.
06:39And this is a long, long journey back for many, including vulnerable children in Syria.
06:46Ahmed Barim, we'll have to leave it there, but thanks so much for joining us, Ahmed Barim
06:50there of the Norwegian Refugee Council.