- The sum would be equally split between Syria and Türkiye, with each getting $50 million.
- It was not immediately clear if the funds for Syria included the $13.6 million previously announced.
DUBAI – The United Arab Emirates pledged $100 million to Syria and Türkiye on Tuesday, one of the largest sums ever after a massive earthquake that killed more than 5,400 people in both countries.
The oil-rich Gulf nation – which had already pledged some $13.6 million to Syria – is leading regional relief efforts and has sent planes carrying relief supplies and rescue teams to both countries following the magnitude 7.8 quake that struck early Monday.
On Tuesday, Emirati President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan ordered “the allocation of $100 million to help those affected,” the Emirates News Agency said. The sum would be divided equally between Syria and Türkiye, with each receiving $50 million, according to the news agency. It was not immediately clear whether the funds for Syria included the previously announced $13.6 million.
Major General Saleh Al-Ameri, commander of joint operations at the UAE Ministry of Defense, said on Tuesday that three military aircraft with search and rescue teams had been dispatched to Türkiye, which have since started operations. A total of seven flights are planned to the countries affected by the earthquake, including two to the Syrian capital Damascus, he told local media. The official Syrian news agency SANA announced on Tuesday that an Emirati plane with 10 tons of food supplies had arrived at Damascus International Airport.
The UAE reopened its embassy in the Syrian capital in December 2018.
In March last year, Assad paid a visit to the United Arab Emirates – his first visit to an Arab state in more than a decade of brutal civil war.
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