Iraq pledges $13m for Syrian refugees

Iraq Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said Wednesday that his country has pledged USD 13 million for Syrian refugees and displaced. Zebari made his remarks in the opening session of the Second Kuwait Pledging Conference for Syria. The minister said that this assistance will be distributed by the Iraqi Red Crescent Society and international humanitarian agencies. Zebari added that Iraq was in a race against time since the beginning of the crisis, opening its borders and hosting thousands of Syrian citizens. According to statistics the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) there are 210,000 Syrian refugees registered in Iraq. Zebari expressed his country's belief that there were more than 40,000 refugees which have not been registered by the UNHCR. The minister noted that the federal government of Iraq provided direct financial contributions which amounted to more than USD 58 million dollars to alleviate the humanitarian suffering of the Syrian refugees. The minister added the Kurdistan Regional Government have contributed more than USD 70 million to help refugees and secure shelters food, health services, drinking water, and building new camps for those displaced. Zebari stressed that the government of Iraq has recently agreed to allow the World Food Programme and UNHCR to open the first humanitarian gate to transfer and allow the passing of international humanitarian aid to refugees flown across 10 aircraft from Irbil Airport to inside Syria.