The United States has announced more than $756 million in additional humanitarian assistance for the Syrian people. This funding is in addition to the nearly $808 million that was announced earlier this year.
As U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the Security Council in announcing the additional U.S. assistance, “The Syrian people remain in peril.”
After more than 11 years of war, which began when the Assad regime responded with brutal force against peaceful, anti-government protesters, the Syrian people continue to experience devastating loss and need. Since 2011 more than 350,000 people have been killed; tens of thousands have been arbitrarily detained, abducted, or forcibly disappeared; 13 million have been displaced; and over 2 million have been pushed into severe food insecurity. Now a cholera outbreak in northern Syria poses another grave threat in a country whose health care system has been shattered.
The United States remains the world’s largest humanitarian donor to the Syrian people. The additional funding, Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield said, “will bring immediate relief to millions of refugees. It will help humanitarian partners provide clean water, food, hygiene and relief supplies, shelter, protection services, and critical health and nutrition assistance. And it will include support for early recovery programs across the country.”
It also demonstrates, the Ambassador noted, “how urgent and how committed we are to the full implementation of Resolution 2642,” which calls for the unimpeded delivery of aid throughout the country.
Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield emphasized that “only a durable political solution to this conflict will allow the Syrian people to rebuild and recover,” and she deplored the stalling tactics of the Assad regime, aided by its ally Russia, which have subverted progress toward peace on a pathway outlined in UN Security Council Resolution 2254.
“It is past time for the Assad regime and Russia to meet their commitments,” said Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield. “It is past time for them to take responsibility for the violence and instability. It is past time to do right by the Syrian people.
“In the meantime,” she declared, “we will keep up the pressure. We will push for progress. And we will continue to do everything in our power – as we have done today with this new $756 million dollar funding announcement – to support the dire needs of the Syrian people.”
Helping the Imperiled Syrian People
The United States has announced more than $756 million in additional humanitarian assistance for the Syrian people.
