BRUSSELS — International donors on Wednesday pledged an estimated $4.4 billion in humanitarian aid for Syria and neighbors sheltering its refugees in 2018, falling significantly short of the more than $7 billion the United Nations is seeking.
An estimated 450,000 people have been killed in fighting in Syria since President Bashar Assad’s government cracked down on demonstrations calling for his ouster in 2011.
Last year, the World Bank estimated the damage to the country at close to a quarter-trillion dollars, and large swathes of Syrian’s largest three cities, Aleppo, Damascus, and Homs, lay in ruins.
Eight years into the conflict, more than 13 million Syrians are in need of humanitarian assistance and around a quarter of the population is displaced in neighboring countries like Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey, according to the U.N.
U.N. humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock described the pledges as a “good start” and said that based on previous years he expected the amount to grow. Still, he said that given the funds available the organization would have to save it for the most desperate cases. (AP)