Jamiaturraza IstanbulRıza İlim ve Yardımlaşma Derneği

Syria winter relief

Winter campaign 2026–27 · Deir Ballut camp, northern Syria

This winter our team is handing out heating stoves, blankets, children’s jackets, food baskets and hot meals to displaced families in a camp at Deir Ballut, in northern Syria. Donors receive a report with photos afterwards.

At a glanceHow to help

The campaign at a glance

What
Heating stoves, blankets, children’s jackets, food baskets and hot cooked meals for the winter.
For whom
Families displaced by the war who live in the camp.
Where
Deir Ballut camp, in the Aleppo countryside, on Syria’s border with Türkiye.
When
This winter, 2026–27.
Who hands it out
Our own team on the ground, in person, at the camp.
How donors will know
Photos and video of the distribution, with no faces shown, and a report of what was handed out and what was spent.
How to help
By bank transfer to the association’s accounts. See how to help.
From our office in Istanbul to the camp at Deir Ballut: from Istanbul to Deir Ballut camp, about 860 km in a straight line.
From our office in Istanbul to the camp at Deir Ballut. Map: Natural Earth, public domain. See the camp on Google Maps

What we provide

These are the items the campaign will hand out this winter, with the quantities and prices we have planned. The report after the distribution will give the number of families reached.

  • 55

    Heating stoves

    To heat a tent safely

    $60 each $3,300

  • 200

    Blankets

    For nights below freezing

    $6 each $1,200

  • 50

    Children’s jackets

    Warm clothes for children

    $8.50 each $425

  • 150

    Food baskets

    Food for a family

    $13 each $1,950

  • 250

    Cooked meals

    A hot cooked meal

    $4.50 each $1,125

Total $8,000

Why it is needed

Deir Ballut lies beside the camps of Atmeh, where many families still live in tents.1 Winter nights there are cold, and heating is expensive.

From December to February a typical night falls to between 4 and 6 °C, and on about eight nights each winter it drops below freezing.2

  • 4 °Ca typical January night
  • 8nights below freezing in a typical winter
  • −6.4 °Cthe coldest night in the last ten winters

Diesel for a tent stove costs $2.50–3.90 a night at 2024 prices and gives only a couple of hours of heat.3 On 13 September 2026 the price of diesel in Syria rose by 40 per cent.4

Families who cannot pay burn what they can find: last December, families in a camp at Atmeh said they were burning leaves and plastic bags.5 Unsafe heating causes burns. The Médecins Sans Frontières burns hospital in Atmeh treated 8,340 burn emergencies in 2024.6

Last winter a snowstorm on 31 December 2025 destroyed 785 tents and shelters in northern Syria. On 1 and 2 January two babies died of the cold in camps in northern Idlib, one of them in Dana sub-district, next to Deir Ballut.7

مَثَلُ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ فِي تَوَادِّهِمْ وَتَرَاحُمِهِمْ وَتَعَاطُفِهِمْ مَثَلُ الْجَسَـــــدِ، إِذَا اشْتَكَى مِنْهُ عُضْوٌ تَدَاعَى لَهُ سَائِرُ الْجَسَدِ بِالسَّهَـــــرِ وَالْحُمَّى

The Prophet ﷺ said: “The believers, in their love, mercy and kindness to one another, are like one body: when one part of it aches, the whole body shares its sleeplessness and fever.”

Narrated by al-Nuʿmān ibn Bashīr · Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 2586

Distribution and report

  1. Our team hands out the items in person

    Our people take the stoves, blankets, jackets, food baskets and meals to the camp and give them to families directly.

  2. The distribution is recorded

    Photos and video are taken as the items are handed out, with no faces shown.

  3. Donors get a report

    After the campaign we share a report with donors: what was handed out and what was spent, with the photos.

Published after the distribution

Report to donors

Winter campaign, Deir Ballut camp

PlannedDone
Heating stoves55After the distribution
Blankets200After the distribution
Children’s jackets50After the distribution
Food baskets150After the distribution
Cooked meals250After the distribution
Money spent$8,000After the distribution

Photos and video from the distribution, with no faces shown After the distribution

The report has this shape: our plan, beside what was handed out and what was spent.

Background

Why families are still in the camps

Since December 2024, 2.04 million displaced Syrians have gone home. More than 770,000 still live in camps.8 Many of them have no home left to go back to.

The Atmeh camps in the news, 2019 to 2026

  2. The first families go home

    Sabah

    Atme Kampı’nın misafirleri topraklarına dönüyor

    “The guests of Atme Camp are returning to their lands”

    Days after the change of government, families from the camp begin to head home, and the Turkish Red Crescent gives returnees food and clothing.

How to help

ٱلَّذِينَ يُنفِقُونَ أَمۡوَٰلَهُم بِٱلَّيۡلِ وَٱلنَّهَارِ سِرّٗا وَعَلَانِيَةٗ فَلَهُمۡ أَجۡرُهُمۡ عِندَ رَبِّهِمۡ وَلَا خَوۡفٌ عَلَيۡهِمۡ وَلَا هُمۡ يَحۡزَنُونَ ٢٧٤

“Those who spend their wealth by night and day, secretly and openly – their reward is with their Lord; and there shall be no fear upon them nor shall they grieve.”

Qur’an, al-Baqarah 2:274

  1. Find the association’s bank accounts on the donate page.

    See bank details

Jamiaturraza Istanbul is a registered association, Rıza İlim ve Yardımlaşma Derneği, number 34-283-153 in the Turkish register of associations. The campaign is funded through the association’s own bank accounts.

Questions about the campaign: info@riza.org.tr

Sources

  1. Associated Press, “Cash-strapped Syrians living in tent settlements struggle to return home after Assad’s fall”, 26 May 2026, via Arab News; AP puts the number still living in the al-Karama tent camp at Atmeh at about 40,000. arabnews.com.

  2. Open-Meteo, Historical Weather API (ERA5 reanalysis, CC BY 4.0), daily minimum and maximum temperature at 2 m for the camp (requested at 36.33 N, 36.67 E; nearest model grid point 36.31 N, 36.68 E, 245 m), winters 2016–17 to 2025–26, retrieved 31 October 2026: open-meteo.com. Monthly figures are averages; the number of freezing nights is the median over the ten winters, and the July figure is the average daily high for July 2016–2025. Calculated by Jamiaturraza Istanbul.

  3. Shelter/NFI Cluster, “Guidance Note on Winterization for Northwest Syria”, September 2024, fuel table: diesel at 4 litres a day for three months costs US$226.8–349.2 and covers “the heating needs for only a couple of hours per day”. Divided by 90 nights, that is US$2.52–3.88 a night (our calculation). Prices are from before the 2026 fuel price rises. sheltercluster.org.

  4. FEWS NET, “Syria Key Message Update: fuel price increase erodes purchasing power as winter costs and lean season approach, September 2026 – January 2027”, 8 October 2026: diesel rose by 40 per cent to 175 SYP a litre on 13 September 2026. reliefweb.int.

  5. Al Jazeera Mubasher, “النازحون في مخيم أطمة يواجهون شتاء قاسيا بلا تدفئة ولا مساعدات” (Displaced people in Atmeh camp face a harsh winter without heating or aid), 12 December 2025. aljazeeramubasher.net.

  6. Médecins Sans Frontières, “Providing care for burn victims in Atmeh, Syria”, 6 May 2025. reliefweb.int.

  7. OCHA, “Syrian Arab Republic: Flash Update No. 1, Heavy Snowfall Hits Displaced Communities in Northern Syria”, 6 January 2026 (citing the CCCM and Shelter/NFI sectors). unocha.org.

  8. OCHA, briefing to the UN Security Council on the humanitarian situation in Syria, 12 October 2026. unocha.org.

Last updated 1 November 2026