The United States Will Provide an Additional $364 Million in Aid to Syrian Civilians

The U.S. State Department announced that it will allocate an additional $364 million in aid for the United Nations and non-governmental organizations operating in Syria. With this amount, U.S. assistance to Syrian civilians will approach $6 billion. This aid is intended for civilians within Syria as well as for refugees who have fled the country. This funding is being provided to the United Nations at a time when Syria is experiencing a severe crisis following the failure of the latest ceasefire, with an increase in air and ground attacks by the forces of Bashar al-Assad and his allies. The United States has provided the most assistance to Syria as an independent country, and this new funding will bring the total to $5.9 billion. Meanwhile, Anne Richard, the Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees, and Migration, stated on September 28 that this amount comes from previously reported expenditures to Congress and is not a separate or new allocation. According to Ms. Richard, this figure is likely to be the last expenditure considered for Syria in the current fiscal year. Recent U.S. and Russian efforts to establish a longer ceasefire and return to peace negotiations have yielded no results. Several officials and figures allied with the Assad government, including the Russian representative to the United Nations, have recently described peace in the country as 'probably impossible.' The Secretary-General of Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Shiite militants who support Assad in the Syrian civil war, recently stated that there is no political solution for Syria and that battles will determine the outcome. On the other hand, Josh Earnest, the White House spokesman, said on Tuesday that Obama and his team are always closely monitoring events on the ground to decide what further actions can be taken. Over the past five and a half years, following the severe crackdown on largely peaceful protests against Assad's government that escalated into a civil war, between 300,000 to half a million people have been killed in the country. Half of Syria's population has also been displaced, with millions fleeing to neighboring countries and Europe.