Damascus (Al-Ittihad, agencies)
Yesterday, the United Nations launched an appeal to raise $4.07 billion to provide humanitarian aid in Syria, warning that the lack of support may push more Syrians to emigrate.
The United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator in Syria, Adam Abdel Mawla, said via video from Damascus in a press conference: “For the year 2024, we request the mobilization of $4.07 billion to provide life-saving aid to 10.8 million Syrians out of 16.7 million in need of assistance.” He added, “Today we face an unprecedented situation in Syria that we cannot ignore.” Abdul Mawla pointed out that about 12.9 million people suffer from food insecurity throughout Syria.
As of March 1, “only 0.02% of the requirements of the 2024 Humanitarian Response Plan had been funded,” according to Al-Mawla.
He warned that “failure to act will be costly to all of us and will inevitably lead to additional suffering, including about 2.5 million out-of-school children losing the opportunity to return to school and about 2.3 million women of reproductive age losing access to maternal and reproductive health care services.”
He stressed that “Syria may be vulnerable to climate shocks,” warning of water scarcity and heat waves that affect agriculture and livestock. He pointed out that the war in the Gaza Strip reflected an increase in commodity prices in Syria due to the disturbances affecting global shipping traffic.
Abdel Mawla confirmed that targeting airports in Syria also affected the delivery of humanitarian aid, noting that the United Nations was forced to cancel 49 humanitarian flights over the past year.
He warned of several potentially catastrophic consequences of ignoring the crisis in Syria, including the return of terrorism and increasing instability in neighboring countries such as Lebanon and Jordan by not creating the conditions conducive to the return of refugees.
He also warned of the possibility of an increase in the number of Syrian immigrants to Europe, noting that the year 2023 witnessed a 38% increase in asylum applications from Syria compared to the previous year. He called on countries to act “from the standpoint of the national interest,” adding, “Providing people’s needs to remain in their countries is less expensive than supporting them when they arrive at any asylum destination.”
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