US to give $750M in aid to Syrian people
A Syrian woman holds a child next to ancient Roman era ruins where they have set their tents in Sarmada district, north of Idlib city, Syria, Nov. 25, 2021. (AP File Photo)


The United States is planning to provide over $750 million in humanitarian assistance to the Syrian people, an official said Wednesday.

U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the U.N. Security Council 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-Türkiye 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 amid Russian threats to veto a resolution to protect it.

The Bab al-Hawa crossing near Türkiye's Cilvegözü border post in the south has been the only point of entry for U.N. aid into Syria for the past two years.