Donors pledge $4.4b for Syria

BRUSSELS: International donors pledged $4.4 billion in aid for 2018 for civilians caught up in the Syrian civil war — well short of what the UN says is needed for humanitarian work in Syria and neighbouring countries. The sum committed at a two-day conference in Brussels was less than half of the $9 billion the United Nations says is needed this year to help those in need inside Syria and living as refugees in neighbouring countries. The head of the UN aid agency UNOCHA called the $4.4 billion “a good start” but Oxfam slammed the international response as “tragically inadequate”.