Cnn
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The Trump administration has ended the majority of its funding for a main civil and humanitarian Syrian organization, White helmets, According to internal documents and organization.
The financing of the American Agency for International Development (USAID) for the fight against fires, research and rescue of white helmets and community resilience work has been terminated as part of the cancellation by the administration of foreign aid contracts. A smaller contract from the US State Department to support responsibility work remains active.
The decision to reduce millions of dollars in USAID funding to white helmets, while Syria is in a significant transition period after the Assad regime fall. This is a decision that the organization hopes that the American government will reconsider.
White helmets, also known as the Syrian civil defense, were founded by volunteers in 2013 to meet the catastrophic impacts of the civil war of Syria. In the years that followed, they have provided emergency medical services, civil evacuations, research and rescue missions and investigative work – often in extremely dangerous circumstances. They have been vilified and targeted by the now known Syrian regime and its allies, including Russia, but have long been supported by the United States.
Farouq Habib, deputy director general of the organization, said that they had an “excellent partnership” with the USAID – the biggest donor of the organization – for almost 10 years, and are very proud of the partnership and the support they have received from the American people.
“Support in the United States during this transition phase of Syrian history is very important because we have a new era and we must continue to fill the void in the absence of a functional and strong government,” he told CNN.
The impact of the reduction in financing “is devastating,” said Habib, noting that “needs have increased considerably”.
“After the fall of the Assad regime, the white helmets extended from what was previously areas controlled by the opposition in the north of Syria to almost all of Syria. So we used to serve 5 million civilians in the past, now we work for 20 million,” said Habib.
“We are trying to postpone the crisis by reducing the funds of other European donors, but it will certainly not be enough to finance the total budget of the year,” he said.
White helmets have been officially informed that the USAID contract has been terminated. However, they are in communication with USAID and hope that the termination will be reversed, in particular given the vital nature of their work.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the administration would not reduce the financing of rescue programs.
In a letter to the Congress, an official of the USAID said that on March 21, “a total of 5,341 prices had been terminated.” A list of support for foreign assistance prices has listed a contract of almost $ 30 million for white helmets as being terminated. Part of the money in this contract, which was listed as from February 2023, has already been spent. A separate list of state prices has shown $ 1.4 million contact for white helmets as still active.
A spokesperson for the State Department declared to CNN that “the aid of the State Department for white helmets in Syria had resumed”.
Asked about the termination of the USAID price, the spokesperson said that “after an in-depth examination of nearly 6,500 operational and programming prices to guarantee foreign assistance to make America safer, stronger and more prosperous, USAID has dismissed more than 5,300 subsidies, contracts and cooperative agreements.”
“Each terminated attribution has been examined individually to align the priorities of agencies and administration, and layoffs were executed when Secretary Rubio determined that the sentence was incompatible with the national interest or the priorities of the agency policy,” they said.