ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The US has announced it will provide an additional $419 million in humanitarian aid assigned for those affected by the conflict in Syria.
The additional money will be spent on emergency healthcare, clean drinking water, food, shelter and relief supplies for those in need, the White House announced on Monday, The Hill newspaper reported.
“We have long said that the most important contribution to address the urgent humanitarian needs of these refugees is in the form of trying to meet their basic needs,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters. “This is the urgent relief that Syrian refugees need.”
This will bring the total amount of aid provided by the US to Syria to $4.5 billion, the world’s largest amount of aid to Syria since the start of the ongoing Syrian Civil War.
The aid increase follows a series of announcements by US and world leaders about ramping up the response to a massive influx of refugees fleeing the Middle East.
On Sunday, the United States announced it will increase the number of refugees it accepts by 15,000 over each of the next two years, bringing the total number of refugees it accepts each year to 100,000 by 2017, according to US Secretary of State John Kerry on Sunday, Reuters reported.
"In consultation with Congress, we will continue to explore ways to increase those figures while maintaining robust security," Kerry told a news conference after meeting German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier Sunday.
US President Barack Obama recently announced that at least 10,000 Syrians will be accepted to the US over the coming year due to the war and violence in Syria.
On Friday, United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) spokesperson Adrian Edwards announced in a press briefing in Geneva the UNHCR had recorded that more than 442,440 refugees and migrants arrived to Europe through the Mediterranean this year, 2,921 people lost their lives trying to do so and up to 4,000 people are arriving on the Greek islands daily.
The UNHCR reported there should be more opportunities for Syrian refugees residing in neighboring countries to Syria to access legal channels to the EU, including enhanced resettlement and humanitarian admission, family reunification and humanitarian and student visas.
