The Syrian cause has so far raised $4.4 billion in emergency aid for the country and its neighbors from international donors. The total amount is still short of the UN target for 2018 after the United States failed to match its pledged amount. “A number of important donors have not yet been in a position to confirm their financing for 2018,” UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock explained. “That includes the United States, which has been providing more than $1 billion a year to Syria and the region in recent years.”
The White House is still reviewing its development and humanitarian support as Donald Trump has questioned the value of such aid. However, the European Union itself is struggling with its own member states to agree on another package of three billion euros ($3.66 billion) for refugees in Turkey. Humanitarian agencies also pushed for peace before the Syrian military and its Russian and Iranian allies attack the rebel-controlled Syrian city of Idlib. “What I fear is a very cruel battle engulfing Idlib. We cannot accept the war moves towards what is essentially a gigantic refugee camp,” Jan Egeland, a senior UN adviser on Syria. “There have to be talks to spare the civilians from the fighting,” he said, adding that 2.5 million people were at risk.
Britain, Germany and France were major donors of financial aid for refugees at the conference that took place on 25 April and brought together almost 90 governments, aid groups and financial and regional institutions. Similar pledges of $3.4 billion also came in for 2019-2020. The EU’s Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management Christos Stylianides pointed out that the bloc and its member states covered a major part.
