U.S. ANNOUNCES IT IS PROVIDING MORE THAN $34 MILLION IN HUMANITARIAN AID TO SYRIAN PEOPLE

Syria Map Credit:  CIA World Factbook.

FROM: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
United States Announces Additional Humanitarian Assistance for the Syrian Crisis

Media Note
Office of the Spokesperson
Washington, DC
November 9, 2012
Today at the Syria Humanitarian Forum in Geneva, Deputy Assistant Secretary Kelly T. Clements announced that the United States is providing more than $34 million in additional humanitarian assistance to help those affected by the conflict in Syria. With this new assistance, the United States is providing more than $165 million in humanitarian aid to help those suffering inside Syria and refugees in the neighboring countries. This assistance is targeting the following priority areas:
Winterization: This additional funding from the United States will help meet winterization needs in Jordan, Turkey, and Lebanon and keep families warm during the coming winter by providing additional supplies such as blankets, heating stoves, and heavy-duty plastic sheeting to cover windows and other damaged areas of buildings housing those displaced by the Assad regime’s violence inside Syria.
Child Protection and Gender-based Violence Prevention: A portion of these funds will be used to support child protection issues, psychosocial support, and education, as well as measures to prevent gender-based violence.
Health: This additional funding will also support an immunization campaign that will protect up to one million children inside Syria from measles and other preventable diseases. In addition, we are increasing support for the logistical operation that allows life-saving aid to be delivered when and where possible in Syria.
Medical Transport: This funding will also support the transport of wounded Syrians from the Lebanon-Syria border so they can receive the medical attention they desperately need. By funding critical ambulatory services in Lebanon, the United States is helping fill a clear gap in existing humanitarian assistance.
U.S.-supported humanitarian assistance, excluding food assistance, has reached more than one million people inside Syria and approximately 380,000 who have fled to the safety of neighboring countries.

U.S.-funded medical care has already helped approximately 290,000 conflict-affected people throughout Syria. U.S.-funded field hospitals have performed 11,350 surgeries, and our support has trained more than 450 doctors, first responders, and volunteer medical personnel. We have provided medicines, medical supplies, and medical equipment sufficient to assist over 77,000 people inside Syria, and we are providing a wide range of supplies from simple gauze and bandages to treat wounds to advanced equipment like x-ray machines, defibrillators, and surgical tables to help address more complex injuries.

The United States is the largest donor of food assistance to Syria through the World Food Program (WFP), which is reaching 1.5 million displaced and conflict-affected persons within Syria. During the September distribution cycle, WFP food rations were distributed through more than 200 distribution points in all 14 governorates.

In addition, more than 130,000 people in Syria are being helped with U.S.-funded emergency relief supplies such as hygiene kits, infant care kits, bedding sets, mattresses, clothing, and basic household items.

The United States is aggressively pursuing all feasible options to expand the reach of humanitarian aid in Syria, utilizing both traditional and non-traditional humanitarian networks. The United States continues to pursue every available avenue to secure full, safe, and unfettered access for humanitarian organizations to provide relief supplies to the innocent children, women, and men affected by the Assad regime’s violent campaign against the Syrian people.

We recognize the generosity of the governments of Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, and other governments for receiving those fleeing the violence in Syria and for hosting and providing assistance to those in need. We commend the efforts of the United Nations and other international organizations and nongovernmental organizations to ease the trauma that the Syrian regime has inflicted on those fleeing the violence. The overwhelming majority of this funding is being directed to UN agencies who are ably leading the humanitarian response. We urge all donors to coordinate closely with the UN-led response to ensure that necessary assistance is reaching those in need in a timely and efficient manner.

MISSILE TESTS BY NORTH KOREA COULD COST COUNTRY U.S. FOOD AID

American Forces Press Service North Korean Missile Tests Jeopardize U.S. Food Aid By Donna Miles WASHINGTON, March 30, 2012 - A recent North Korean announcement that it will conduct a missile test next month, in conjunction with a reported short-range missile test last night, jeopardizes millions of dollars in U.S. food aid for the secretive country, senior defense officials told Congress. "My view is that if North Korea goes forward with this test, we will stop this aid and stop the other steps that we had intended to take," James N. Miller told the Senate Armed Services Committee yesterday during his confirmation hearing as undersecretary of defense for policy. Miller is President Barack Obama's nominee to replace Michèle Flournoy, for whom he served as principal deputy secretary for three years, as the Pentagon's policy chief. North Korea announced March 16th that it plans to conduct a missile launch between April 12th and 16th. The announcement followed talks last month in Beijing, where the United States agreed to provide North Korea about 240 tons of nutritional aid, worth about $200 million, after it agreed to a moratorium on long-range missile launches. Asked yesterday by a panel member, Miller said he shares the administration's view that U.S. food aid promised last should stop if North Korea goes through with the planned launch. "The view is that if North Korea goes forward with this test," he said, "we will stop this aid and stop the other steps that we had intended to take and have to have a complete reconsideration of where we go in the future." Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asia and Pacific Security Affairs Peter R. Lavoy told the House Armed Services Committee on March 28 that North Korea's announcement makes the February agreement null and void. During discussions with North Korea, he said, "the United States made it very clear that a satellite launch would be a deal-breaker. "So we've ... been forced to suspend our activities to provide nutritional assistance to North Korea," Lavoy added. The planned launch is "highly provocative because it manifests North Korea's desire to test and expand its long-range missile capability," he said. "In addition, the launch, if it occurs, would be in direct violation of Pyongyang's international obligations, including U.N. Security Council resolutions 1718 and 1874, which prohibit North Korea from conducting any launches that use ballistic missile technology," Lavoy said. North Korea claims the launch scheduled for April will be used to place a weather satellite into orbit to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of Kim Il Sung. The United States and other members of the international community believe the launch is actually aimed at testing North Korea's long-range ballistic missiles, in violation of U.N. sanctions. Miller addressed the Senate panel yesterday, just before North Korea reportedly fired two short-range, surface-to-ship missiles off its western coast. "North Korea's provocative behavior, large conventional military, proliferation activities and pursuit of asymmetric advantages through its ballistic missile and weapons of mass destruction programs, including uranium enrichment, present a serious threat to the United States, its allies and partners in the region and the international community," Miller wrote in response to questions from the committee before yesterday's hearing. Miller pointed to North Korea's provocative attacks against South Korea. "The opaque nature of the two North Korean attacks on South Korean forces in 2010 provide a sober reminder that Pyongyang is willing to utilize its capabilities to undertake provocative actions," he said. Miller noted North Korea's flight tests of theater ballistic missiles in 2006 and 2009, demonstrating the capability to target South Korea and Japan. In addition, North Korea continues its work to develop Taepo Dong-2 ballistic missiles. Although Pyongyang claims to have tested this technology in a space launch configuration, Miller said it could reach the United States if developed as an intercontinental ballistic missile. "The United States must continue to monitor carefully North Korea's WMD and missile development programs and related proliferation activities," he told the committee. Miller promised, if confirmed, to ensure the Defense Department continues to work closely with other parts of the U.S. government as well as allies and partners to address these threats, reduce vulnerabilities and conduct contingency planning. "What concerns me most is that this range of threats comes from a single state standing on the outside of the international community," he told the senators. "If confirmed, I will ensure that we sustain and advance our military readiness and coordination with allies and partners and explore all avenues for shaping North Korean behavior."