WASHINGTON
The U.S. is working to provide an additional $70 million in non-lethal aid to the Syrian opposition, the State Department’s number two announced Friday as the country's bloody conflict enters its fifth year.
Deputy Secretary of State Tony Blinken announced the new funds during an event marking the anniversary of the Syrian revolution. The event was attended by Syrian opposition representatives and Syrian Americans.
The proposed funds would include $30 million to bolster the Syrian opposition and local governance structures in their efforts to provide basic services in the war-torn country.
An additional $25 million is earmarked for non-lethal support for approved armed Syrian opposition groups “to protect their communities from the duel threat posed by the Asad regime and extremist groups,” according to the State Department.
The remaining roughly $15 million will be used to provide digital security training for activists, civil society members, journalists and other opposition figures, and to support documentation of war crimes, human rights violations and other Syrian government abuses.
Congress must first sign off on the additional funding.
If approved, it would bring to nearly $400 million in U.S. assistance to the Syrian opposition since the war began in 2011, when peaceful protests were violently suppressed by forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
More than 200,000 people are reported to have died in the conflict, and roughly half of the country's pre-war population has been displaced.
