(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) US Secretary of State John Kerry announced on Wednesday an "immediate" assistance package of USD 40 million for the Syrian opposition to help the rebels step up their fight against ISIL.
Speaking at a UN meeting with the Friends of Syria group of countries, Kerry said that since the uprising in 2011, "it is the moderate opposition who have been fighting for Syria's future - first against a merciless dictator, and then also against another enemy as well, a terrorist group so extreme that even Al-Qaeda came to sever ties with it." The aid "includes more than USD 15 million for communications equipment, vehicles, food, other essential items for the armed opposition, as well as more than USD 25 million to support the civilian opposition as it works to build the capacity of governing," he said.
Congress had approved a budget of USD 500 million to train and arm Syrian rebels earlier this month.
Also at the meeting, Britain pledged USD 26 million for the moderate opposition, while Japan pledged USD 25.5 million in humanitarian aid for both Iraq and Syria.
"Not every nation has to engage in military activities," Kerry stressed. "We have to stop foreign fighters. We have to cut off funding. We have to engage in humanitarian effort. We have to train, equip, advise. There's a role for everybody, but no nation should stand back from its engagement and its effort to try to help." "Bashar al-Assad wants you to believe that the Syrian people have two options only: support his murderous regime or face a Syria ruled by extremist thugs from groups like ISIL or Al-Nusra [Front]," he added. "But everybody in this room knows better. We know that the most viable alternative to extremism in Syria is not the dictator that attracted these terrorists in the first place. Extremists will never stop fighting as long as he is in power. So the alternative to extremists is not Assad; it's [the] moderate opposition." The US, along with the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, continued its airstrikes on ISIL targets in Syria on Wednesday, hitting more than a dozen of the group's strongholds, according to a statement from US Central Command (CENTCOM).
The attacks involved "a mix of fighter and remotely piloted aircraft to conduct 13 of airstrikes against 12 ISIL-controlled modular oil refineries located in remote areas of eastern Syria in the vicinity of Al Mayadin, Al Hasakah, and Abu Kamal and one ISIL vehicle near Dayr az Zawr, also in eastern Syria." "These small-scale refineries provided fuel to run ISIL operations, money to finance their continued attacks throughout Iraq and Syria, and an economic asset to support their future operations," the statement explained.
"Producing between 300-500 barrels of refined petroleum per day, ISIL is estimated to generate as much as USD 2 million per day from these refineries. The destruction and degradation of these targets further limits ISIL's ability to lead, control, project power and conduct operations." CENTCOM is "still assessing the outcome of the attack on the refineries," but believes the airstrikes were "successful."
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