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Syria: Donor conference ‘flagrant inference’ in internal affairs

July 2, 2020 at 9:55 am

Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad attends the Arab Summit, 28 March 2007 in Riyadh [HASSAN AMMAR/AFP via Getty Images]

Syria’s Assad regime yesterday slammed the donor conference held in Brussels as “flagrant interference” in its internal affairs, AFP reported.

In a statement issued by the Syrian Foreign Ministry, Damascus considered the conference, which saw countries pledge $7.7 billion to support Syrian refugees, as a retention of the “US and EU’s hostile policies towards Syria”.

“The Arab Syrian Republic condemns such conferences,” the statement said, adding that such a conference is the business of the “legitimate Syrian government”.

“The governments which supported all forms of terror… and imposed sanctions will not succeed in claiming their support for the Syrians.”

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A similar conference held in 2019 saw pledges of $7 billion for Syrian refugees.

Yesterday’s conference came amidst warnings by rights groups of increasing poverty rates in Syria.

Meanwhile, the UN has called for increasing the amount of cross border aid in order to overcome the rates of poverty among Syrian refugees.

Syria has been beset by war since 2011 when the regime of President Bashar Al-Assad violently cracked down on peaceful protesters calling for reforms. Since then, an estimated 400,000 people have been killed and millions displaced.