• News
    • Latest news
    • News search
    • Health
    • Finance
    • Food
    • Career news
    • Content series
    • Try Devex Pro
  • Jobs
    • Job search
    • Post a job
    • Employer search
    • CV Writing
    • Upcoming career events
    • Try Career Account
  • Funding
    • Funding search
    • Funding news
  • Talent
    • Candidate search
    • Devex Talent Solutions
  • Events
    • Upcoming and past events
    • Partner on an event
  • Post a job
  • About
      • About us
      • Membership
      • Newsletters
      • Advertising partnerships
      • Devex Talent Solutions
      • Contact us
Join DevexSign in
Join DevexSign in

News

  • Latest news
  • News search
  • Health
  • Finance
  • Food
  • Career news
  • Content series
  • Try Devex Pro

Jobs

  • Job search
  • Post a job
  • Employer search
  • CV Writing
  • Upcoming career events
  • Try Career Account

Funding

  • Funding search
  • Funding news

Talent

  • Candidate search
  • Devex Talent Solutions

Events

  • Upcoming and past events
  • Partner on an event
Post a job

About

  • About us
  • Membership
  • Newsletters
  • Advertising partnerships
  • Devex Talent Solutions
  • Contact us
  • My Devex
  • Update my profile % complete
  • Account & privacy settings
  • My saved jobs
  • Manage newsletters
  • Support
  • Sign out
Latest newsNews searchHealthFinanceFoodCareer newsContent seriesTry Devex Pro
    • News
    • In the news: Syria

    Donors to Syrians: More aid, but still no arms

    By Jenny Lei Ravelo // 01 March 2013
    Men — one carrying firearm — run in the streets of Idlib, Syria in February 2012. Photo by: Nasser Nouri / CC BY-NC-SA

    At a just-concluded meeting in Rome of members of the Friends of Syria group, Germany pledged €5 million ($6.6 million) in humanitarian aid, the European Union amended its arms embargo and the United States announced nonlethal assistance to the Syrian opposition.

    The pledges fell short of the opposition’s expectations — they were hoping donors would finally provide them with weapons and other military equipment.

    “We would have wished to receive a means with which to protect the innocent civilians dying from the regime’s warplanes and scud missiles, but unfortunately, that was not even on the table,” Syrian National Coalition Spokesman Walid al-Bunni told The Associated Press.

    Still, this is the first time the United States is providing direct aid to the rebels.

    A “significant portion” of the United States’ $60 million assistance is meant to strengthen the opposition’s organizational capacity and help provide basic services to rebel-controlled areas. The Syrian regime has not allowed aid agencies to provide cross-border humanitarian operations, particularly in the country’s north.

    The assistance will also include medical supplies and food aid to rebel fighters. The European Union, meanwhile, now allows member states to provide rebels with defensive military equipment such as armored vehicles as well as technical assistance.

    “Different countries are choosing to do different things,” U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said at a press briefing following the meeting. “I am absolutely confident from what I heard in there from other foreign ministers that the totality of this effort is going to have an impact on the ability of the Syrian opposition to accomplish its goals.”

    Some analysts thought otherwise.

    “This kind of support is not going to have a great impact with regard to the situation on the ground,” Brookings Doha Center’s Salman Shaikh said, Agence France-Presse reports.

    Part of the humanitarian aid from Germany will be channeled through the International Committee of the Red Cross in Syria and a number of German nongovernmental organizations in affected neighboring countries. When the money will be available, though, remains unclear. U.N. agencies and aid organizations have yet to see the bulk of the more than $1.5 billion donor pledges at a major conference in Kuwait last month.

    Read more development aid news online, and subscribe to The Development Newswire to receive top international development headlines from the world’s leading donors, news sources and opinion leaders — emailed to you FREE every business day.

    • Humanitarian Aid
    Printing articles to share with others is a breach of our terms and conditions and copyright policy. Please use the sharing options on the left side of the article. Devex Pro members may share up to 10 articles per month using the Pro share tool ( ).

    About the author

    • Jenny Lei Ravelo

      Jenny Lei Ravelo@JennyLeiRavelo

      Jenny Lei Ravelo is a Devex Senior Reporter based in Manila. She covers global health, with a particular focus on the World Health Organization, and other development and humanitarian aid trends in Asia Pacific. Prior to Devex, she wrote for ABS-CBN, one of the largest broadcasting networks in the Philippines, and was a copy editor for various international scientific journals. She received her journalism degree from the University of Santo Tomas.

    Search for articles

    Related Stories

    SyriaChange is coming to Syria. Can the aid sector seize the opportunity?

    Change is coming to Syria. Can the aid sector seize the opportunity?

    LocalizationOpinion: Localization was Syria’s lifeline — NGOs must apply this elsewhere

    Opinion: Localization was Syria’s lifeline — NGOs must apply this elsewhere

    Foreign aidHow will the rest of the world respond to lights-out at USAID?

    How will the rest of the world respond to lights-out at USAID?

    Funding insightsHow much aid goes to West Africa?

    How much aid goes to West Africa?

    Most Read

    • 1
      How low-emissions livestock are transforming dairy farming in Africa
    • 2
      Opinion: Mobile credit, savings, and insurance can drive financial health
    • 3
      Opinion: India’s bold leadership in turning the tide for TB
    • 4
      WHO names new directors in ongoing restructure
    • 5
      State Department employees in anxious limbo over massive staff cuts
    • News
    • Jobs
    • Funding
    • Talent
    • Events

    Devex is the media platform for the global development community.

    A social enterprise, we connect and inform over 1.3 million development, health, humanitarian, and sustainability professionals through news, business intelligence, and funding & career opportunities so you can do more good for more people. We invite you to join us.

    • About us
    • Membership
    • Newsletters
    • Advertising partnerships
    • Devex Talent Solutions
    • Post a job
    • Careers at Devex
    • Contact us
    © Copyright 2000 - 2025 Devex|User Agreement|Privacy Statement