US to give over $750 million in aid to Syrian people

The United States announced Wednesday that it intends to provide more than $750 million in additional humanitarian funding for the Syrian people.

U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the U.N. Security Council that the new donation is in addition to the over $800 million in added U.S. humanitarian aid for Syria that she announced at a donor’s conference in Brussels in May.

She said the new $756 million in assistance “will bring immediate relief to millions of refugees and displaced persons.”

“ 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 entire country,” she said.

Thomas-Greenfield, who visited Syrian refugees and aid deliveries across the Syria-Turkey border this summer, said “the United States remains the world’s largest donor to Syria because we are committed …. to serving the people of the world.” In her visit, she said the sole border crossing to deliver aid into Syria must remain open despite Russian threats to veto a resolution to protect it.