The United Sates is providing an additional $10 million in humanitarian assistance to help communities hosting the more than 3 million refugees from Syria, the State Department said Tuesday. The new U.S. aid, provided through the U.N. Development Program, will help address the needs experienced by local communities hosting Syrian refugees. It will "improve schools, buy textbooks and supplies, build health clinics, support staff from local communities, and improve and extend water and sewer infrastructure," the department said in a statement. The announcement was initially made Tuesday at a donor conference in Berlin by Anne Richard, the assistant secretary of state for refugees. Since the beginning of the civil war, Washington has provided more than $2.9 billion in humanitarian aid inside Syria and throughout the region. About half of the funding has supported organizations working to help refugees in neighboring countries. The United States also provides bilateral economic and development support to countries in the region.
