We answer Syria’s call
Costello’s €1.5m in aid for refugees as rebels shoot down helicopter
IRELAND has announced an additional €1.5million in lifesaving assistance to help address the devastating humanitarian consequences of the conflict in Syria.
Junior Minister for Trade and Development Joe Costello made his announcement during a visit to a Syrian refugee camp refugee in Jordan to assess how Irish Aid was being used in the area.
He visited the Za’atari refugee camp where he met men, women and children who recounted harrowing stories of the escalating conflict.
Mr Costello’s visit came as video footage emerged of the moment a Syrian military helicopter burst i nto flames and plummeted to the ground during f i ghting in Damascus.
Rebels fighting to oust President Bashar Al-Assad claimed they had shot it down.
It followed reports by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights of intense fighting between Mr Assad’s opponents and troops backed by helicopter gunships in the western suburb of Jobar.
The rebels are known to have antiaircraft guns, and recently claimed to have shot down one of Mr Assad’s Russian-made MiG fighter jets. The Syrian government blamed that crash on a technical malfunction.
Images of the blazing helicopter were uploaded on YouTube. State media in Damascus confirmed the crash but gave no other details.
Ireland’s funding of humanitarian supplies will enable NGOs in the region to provide essential shelter, food, medicine and basic household items to thousands of Syrians.
The assistance will reach the vulnerable populations inside Syria and also those who have fled the conflict and sought refuge in neighbouring countries.
In the last few days the numbers of refugees entering Jordan has increased drastically, with over 6,000 arriving since yesterday.
With reports of continued atrocities inside Syria it is expected that thousands more refugees will cross in the coming days.
In response to the influx of refugees, the Jordanian government has called on the international community to support the needs of the refugees. The humanitarian operation will need to be massively scaled up, requiring additional resources and supplies.
Mr Costello said: ‘Syria and its neighbours are facing an enormous and growing humanitarian crisis as a result of the escalating violence within Syria. Lack of funds is the main factor hampering the humanitarian response.
‘The funding will enable our UN partners and aid agencies to scale up their assistance to the millions of vulnerable Syrians whose lives are at risk due to the escalating conflict.
‘Ireland is committed to supporting them through these extremely difficult times’, said the minister.
Latest UN figures estimate there are over 2.5million people in need in Syria and over 202,000 refugees in neighbouring countries, with Jordan hosting nearly 50,000 of them.
Nearly 20,000 people have been killed since the uprising began in March 2011. French president Francois Hollande yesterday warned Mr Assad that any use of chemical weapons would justify military intervention.
‘With our partners we remain very vigilant regarding preventing the use of chemical weapons, which for the international community would be a legitimate reason for direct intervention,’ Mr Hollande said during an annual foreign policy speech to French ambassadors.
‘What’s at stake goes beyond Syr- ia,’ he stressed. ‘It concerns the security of the Middle East and especially Lebanon.’ His comments follow similar declarations from the US and UK that an intervention would be justified if Assad’s government uses chemical weapons against his people.
Mr Hollande’s warning came amid mounting evidence of a massacre by official forces in the Damascus suburb of Daraya.
At the weekend activists reported t hat government forces had gone on a killing spree after they seized the area from rebels on Thursday. Reports of the death toll ranged from 200 to 600.
Video footage showed rows of corpses – many with gunshot wounds to their heads.