Ms Mary Van Lieshout:

I thank the Chairman and committee members for providing GOAL with this opportunity to discuss our work and concerns regarding the ongoing conflict in Syria, now reaching its ninth year. GOAL has been operational in Syria since 2013, with offices in Idlib governorate in north-west Syria. Our programme in Syria is the largest humanitarian intervention in GOAL's history. In 2018, we supported almost 1 million conflict-affected people with services in the areas of food, water, sanitation and hygiene and emergency response.

GOAL has more than 400 staff on the ground in Syria. Our colleagues in Syria work in arguably the most dangerous and complex environment in the world. Since the conflict began, we have lost four colleagues in brutal attacks. It is an enormous privilege for us that my colleague, Mustafa Al Manla, our emergency programme co-ordinator in Syria, can be with us today to tell his story and describe GOAL's lifesaving interventions in the region.