UN asks for nearly $8bn ahead of key Syria aid conference
UN agencies on Tuesday appealed for $7.73bn in funding to help 22.5 million Syrians affected by the conflict which is soon about to enter its sixth year.
The appeal for funds from UN member-states covers help for 13.5 million Syrians displaced inside the war-wracked country and 4.7 million who have fled across the border to neighbouring countries.
International donors will be asked to come forward with large pledges at a conference on Syria's humanitarian crisis in London on 4 February.
"After nearly six years of brutal conflict and political paralysis, the Syrian people need our help more than ever," said UN aid chief Stephen O'Brien.
UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi stressed that Syria's neighbours - including Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon - were shouldering the biggest burden from the refugee crisis and said funding must be directed at them.
More than a million refugees, many from Syria, crossed into Europe last year after conditions in camps deteriorated, with cuts to food rations and other aid.
Peace talks are slated to take place in the US later this month, but with the opposition still divided
Last year, UN agencies asked for $8.4bn from governments worldwide to fund the Syrian aid effort, but received only $3.3bn.
The appeal for Syria is part of a wider 2016 humanitarian appeal, asking for $20.1bn to reach 87 million people in need of aid around the world.
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