The coronavirus could eventually infect between 10,000 and 200,000 people in Saudi Arabia, the kingdom’s health minister has said, urging the public to adhere more closely to state directives against mixing and movement.

The country of some 30 million inhabitants has so far reported 2,795 cases and 41 deaths, the highest in the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council, despite halting all passenger flights, suspending most commercial activities and imposing a 24-hour curfew in major cities including the capital Riyadh.

“We stand today at a decisive moment as a society in raising our sense of responsibility and contributing together with determination to stop the spread of this pandemic,” Health Minister Tawfiq al-Rabiah said in a rare televised address on Tuesday.

Four studies by infectious disease experts indicated the number of cases was likely to reach between 10,000 and 200,000 in coming weeks, he said.

The virus has already infected more than 1.3 million people worldwide.

Rabiah said the 24-hour curfews, imposed on Monday night, were needed because some were not taking the danger of infection seriously but leaving their homes and gathering in groups.

Passenger road traffic had only fallen by around 50 percent.

The interior ministry subsequently brought forward the start of curfew in all areas not already under a 24-hour lockdown to 3 pm from 7 pm.

Despite the new restrictions, many people were still moving about on Tuesday morning in Riyadh, Reuters reported.

Rabiah said keeping infections at current levels for four to 12 months would give the kingdom more time to prepare and prevent the virus from overwhelming the health system, as it has in other countries.

King Salman approved another 7bn riyals ($1.86bn) for the health ministry to combat the disease, and another 32bn ($8.5bn) could be disbursed before the end of the year, Rabiah added.

He said the economy and planning minister would speak later about new decisions to combat the epidemic’s impact on the Saudi economy, the largest in the Arab world.

Source: https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/coronavirus-saudi-arabia-infections-may-reach-thousands

The post Coronavirus: Saudi Arabia warns it may reach up to 200,000 infections first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Iran’s youth will witness the demise of Israel and American civilization, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has vowed.

‘You young people should be assured that you will witness the demise of the enemies of humanity, meaning the degenerate American civilization, and the demise of Israel,’ Khamenei said in a meeting with students.

He gave no further details.

Tensions have spiked between Iran and the United States after Washington sent more military forces to the Middle East, including an aircraft carrier, B-52 bombers and Patriot missiles, in a show of force against what U.S. officials say are Iranian threats to its troops and interests in the region.

Iran’s youth will witness the demise of Israel and American civilization, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, pictured, has vowed

Khamenei said last week that there would be no war with the United States.

Separately, Khamenei distanced himself from a landmark 2015 nuclear deal in his comments on Wednesday.

U.S. President Donald Trump pulled out of the nuclear deal with Iran last year and reimposed sanctions, saying the accord did not address the Islamic Republic´s missile program and what he saw as their malign influence in the region.

‘The way (the nuclear deal) was put into action, I didn´t have much faith (in it),’ Khamenei, who is the highest authority in Iran, said. ‘And we repeatedly told the president and the foreign minister and gave them notice.’

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif have been the main advocates of the nuclear deal within Iran’s political system.

Two weeks ago, Iran notified the remaining signatories to the deal – China, France, Germany, Russia and the United Kingdom – that it would halt some commitments under the nuclear deal, a year after the United States unilaterally withdrew from the accord.

Tensions have spiked between Iran and the United States after Washington sent more military forces to the Middle East (pictured: Donald Trump yesterday)

Source: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7060127/Iran-youth-witness-demise-Israel-American-civilization-Khamenei.html

The post Iran’s youth ‘will witness the demise of America and Israel’, Ayatollah Khamenei vows first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

A new bloc is emerging in the greater Middle East with the declared objectives of dominating the entire Arab world, confronting and containing the US and its allies; and controlling and benefiting from the entire hydro-carbon economy, from production to transportation.

The leading members of the new bloc are Turkey, Iran, and Qatar; with Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan submitting to the new bloc.

Russian experts call the new bloc “the Middle Eastern Entente”.

The key to the success of the bloc is the emerging correlation of influence of the great powers in the aftermath of the wars in Syria and Iraq. Russia and the People’s Republic of China are ready to compromise with the regional powers in order to secure their vital and global interests, while the US, Saudi Arabia and, to a lesser extent, Israel, are the nemeses of the bloc.

The roots of “the Middle Eastern Entente” are in Doha. Qatar in Summer 2017 initiated a myriad of bilateral and trilateral discussions with Iran and Turkey after Saudi Arabia and the GCC allies imposed the siege on Qatar in June of that year. However, it was not until the second half of 2018, with the initial impact of the siege largely ameliorated, that the long-term post-war posture of the greater Middle East became a major priority.

It was then that Doha, Tehran, and Ankara started talking about forming a coherent strategic bloc.

According to Iman Zayat, the Managing Editor of The Arab Weekly, in late November 2018, the three countries struck a deal in Tehran to create a “joint working group to facilitate the transit of goods between the three countries”. This was the beginning of a profound realignment of the three regional powers. “Qatar has irrevocably joined with Ankara and Tehran against its former Arab allies. It has conclusively positioned itself in a regional alliance that pursues geopolitical dominance by driving instability,” Zayat noted.

It did not take long for the three powers to realize that for such a bloc to succeed it must focus on security issues and not just economic issues.

Hectic negotiations followed. In mid-December 2018, the three foreign ministers — Muhammad bin Ab-dulrahman al-Thani, Mohammad Javad Zarif, and Mevlut Çavusoglu — signed the protocols and agreements for the new bloc on the sidelines of the 18th Doha Forum. In the Forum, Qatar formally called for “a new alliance that would replace the four-decade-old Gulf Cooperation Council”. Since then, specific and concrete negotiations on the consolidation of the bloc have been taking place. The final modalities for joint actions and common priorities, particularly the integration of the Arab states, were formulated in ear-ly March 2019.

Iran was the dominant force in this phase.

The last decisive push for the Arab integration took place during Bashar al-Assad’s visit to Tehran on February 25, 2019. There, he submitted to the demands of the Iranian mullahs and to tight supervision by Teh-ran. Significantly, during his stay in Tehran, Assad was constantly escorted by Qassem Soleimani, Mahmoud Alavi, and Ali Akbar Velayati, who attended all his meetings with Iranian leaders. In Tehran, Assad commit-ted to supporting the new bloc and to support the greater Middle East the bloc members were trying to create.

The geo-strategic and geo-economic objectives of the bloc are huge, and, as things stand in late March 2019, largely attainable.

The first objective of “the Middle Eastern Entente” was to quickly consolidate strong influence, if not hegemony, over Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan before the Fertile Crescent of Minorities could re-emerge as a viable geo-strategic and political entity. The primary rôle of the revived Fertile Crescent of Minorities was to constitute a buffer containing the upsurge of the Sunni Arab milieu and blocking the access of both Iran and Turkey to the heartlands of al-Jazira.

Related: Oil Prices Fall As Trump Targets OPEC On Twitter

The greatest fear of the bloc members, however, was the possible ascent of the Kurds as a regional power once they internalized the US betrayal and were ready to strike deals with Moscow and Damascus. The overall susceptibility of the four Arab countries to the new regional posture was evident from their blatant disregard of the US sanctions on Iran. Hence, this region would soon become the key to a new grand-strategic and grand-economic posture for the entire greater Middle East.

Tehran emerged as the dominant power in the security posture.

The surge has been conducted under the command of Maj.-Gen. Qassem Soleimani, Commander of the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC: Pasdaran). Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamene’i on March 11, 2019, awarded Soleimani a unique and high State honor: the Order of Zolfaghar. [Significantly, this order, established in 1856 as The Decoration of the Commander of the Faithful by Emperor Naser al-Din Shah, was awarded until 1925 where it was renamed as The Order of Zolfaghar by Emperor Reza Shah I. It had not been awarded since the downfall of the Shah in 1979 until the award — presumably in the highest of the three classes of the Order — to Maj.-Gen. Soleimani.]

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told the Mehr News Agency that Soleimani received the award on account of his leading “the fight against terrorism and extremism in the region”. Zarif stressed that Soleimani’s achievements “have prepared the grounds for creating a strong and stable region free from violence and radicalization”.

On March 18, 2019, the military commanders of Iran, Syria, and Iraq convened in Damascus in order to discuss long-term strategic and operational cooperation. The delegations were led by Mohammad Bagheri (Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces), Ali Abdullah Ayyoub (the Syrian Defense Minister), and Othman al-Ghanmi (Chief of Staff of the Iraqi Military). Officially, the summit addressed coordination in counter-terrorism operations, joint securing and opening of borders, and restoring Damascus’ control over the en-tire Syrian territory.

In reality, the tripartite summit discussed the emerging regional posture now that the wars in Syria and Iraq are nearing their end. Bashar al-Assad addressed the summit and stressed long-term security and policy issues.

Bagheri explained that the objective of “the tripartite summit between Iran, Syria and Iraq with the participation of their senior commanders [was] to coordinate efforts on the fight against terrorist groups in the region. … Over the last few years, excellent coordination has been achieved between Iran, Syria, Russia and Iraq, and there has been solidarity with the Resistance Axis that led to significant victories in countering terrorism, and today, on the basis of these victories, the consolidation of sovereignty and progress to-wards the liberation of the rest of Syria is taking place.”

Concurrently, the initial indications of things to come were already unfolding.

In mid-March 2019, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Muhterem Ince and his Iranian counterpart, Hussein Zulfiqari, reached “an agreement on launching a simultaneous operation against terror groups that threat-en the security of both countries” during a meeting in Ankara. If successful, this would be the first of many operations. The first joint operation was conducted on March 18-23, 2019, mainly in northern Iraq. In addition to widespread bombing and shelling, around 600 Turkish and Iranian special forces carried out joint raiding operations against Kurdish “terrorist camps”. In the last days of the operation, aerial bombings were directed at all Kurdish nemeses in Syria, Iraq, Turkey, and Iran. On March 24, 2019, Ankara and Tehran announced that they “are determined to continue carrying out such joint counter-terrorism operations”.

Meanwhile, Qatar has emerged as the dominant power regarding all issues pertaining to the regional economy.

The first priority was to build Qatar’s new oil and gas pipelines to the Mediterranean via Iran-Iraq-Syria and also connect to the pipelines in Turkey. These pipelines would substitute for the originally planned “Sunni pipelines” which were to transverse Qatar-Saudi Arabia-Iraq-Syria and which had originally led to the Qata-ri support for the Syrian jihad. The new pipelines would move to the shores of the Mediterranean — mainly the Syrian port of Latakia — gas and oil from both Qatar and Iran. The pipelines would be followed by electricity lines and a fully integrated transportation infrastructure on a regional basis.

The long-term strategic infrastructure envisioned by “the Middle Eastern Entente” reflected the grand-strategic aspirations of Iran and Turkey.

The key arteries would be from Iran to the shores of the Mediterranean, and from western Turkey to the Red Sea and the Hijaz. Ultimately, these roads would be supplanted by railways. Iran and Iraq have already started constructing the railway line from the Shalamcheh border crossing to Basra in Iraq. This is the first segment of a line which would reach Latakia. Tehran is negotiating with Damascus Iranian management of the civilian port in Latakia (the Russians control the military facilities) in the next few months as a major outlet for Iran’s international trade.

Taken together, the new railroads would provide access for the New Silk Road to the eastern Mediterranean and the Red Sea; would connect the Russia-Iran north-south route with the Mediterranean; and would constitute an extension of the Europe-Turkey rail-line much like the old Baghdad and Persian Gulf railway. The existing Iranian railroad system connects the north-south rail-line to the Pakistani border and, thus, ultimately to western China.

Both Beijing and Moscow are most interested in the speedy completion of these rail-lines as part of the extended Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

Taken together, the transportation cooperation agreement between the three bloc members (Qatar, Iran, and Turkey), and the transportation agreement between Iran, Iraq, and Syria, provide for a road and rail-way system linking all these states. This makes Iran the lynchpin of the regional transportation networks, and, thus, a crucial purveyor of access for the PRC. Indeed, PRC senior officials consider Iran to be “a key pivot to China’s BRI in the region”.

On March 19, 2019, PRC Minister of Commerce Zhong Shan stressed the rôle of Iran as “the strategic partner” in the greater Middle East for “the further development of economic and trade ties” with the entire region. “Iran is China’s strategic partner in the Middle-East and China is the biggest trade partner and importer of oil from Iran,” Zhong said. Ultimately, this would secure for Iran a central place in the overall PRC strategic and economic calculations.

The second objective of “the Middle Eastern Entente” was to use the Arab bloc, particularly its Sunni elements, in conjunction with escalation in Yemen and growing hostility of (non-Sunni, but Ibadi) Oman, in order to smother and subdue Saudi Arabia. With Saudi Arabia already near implosion as a result of the erratic reign of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin ‘Abd al-’Aziz al-Saud, the leaders in Doha, Tehran, and Ankara appear convinced that it would only take little pressure in order to bring about the break-up and self-dismemberment of Saudi Arabia.Related: The One Thing That Could Derail The U.S. Oil Boom

The key to the bloc’s anticipated success was in its capitalizing on heritage-based trends already growing throughout Saudi Arabia. The aggregate impact of the Turkish-Jordanian and Islamist-jihadist subversion in the Hejaz, the growing impact of the anti-al-Saud tribal and jihadist movements organizing in the Nejdi highlands, and the Iran-facilitated radicalization and militancy of the Shi’ite communities in the Saudi Arabian east would accelerate the self-dismemberment of Saudi Arabia along traditional lines. Even if the House of al-Saud did not lose power soon, the myriad of internal problems would prevent Saudi Arabia from playing a regional rôle against the new bloc and its allies.

A large number of intelligence officials and experts throughout the Middle East concur with this assessment.

Russia has been placed in a quandary by the emergence of “the Middle Eastern Entente”.

Russian experts explained in late December 2018 that “Turkey, Iran, and Qatar are moving in a direct course towards creating a full-fledged alliance in the Middle East, threatening to make serious adjustments to the status quo in the region.” And even though the tripartite summit in Damascus and other regional fora hailed their friendship with Russia, the Kremlin was apprehensive regarding the ascent of the bloc. Russia’s numerous tripartite summits and working groups have highlighted repeatedly the complete mistrust of both Iran and Turkey. The huge Russian weapons sales to both countries need not confuse, as they are mainly instruments of keeping both countries beholden to Russia and on a collision course with the US.

As well, Russia has a longstanding dispute with Qatar on account of its support for jihadists from the North Caucasus (both in Qatar and in Syria-Iraq).

Most important, the Kremlin’s grand design for the future of the greater Middle East rests on the ascent of the Fertile Crescent of Minorities — where the Kurds are assigned a key rôle — as a buffer zone containing the upsurge of the Sunni Arab milieu and blocking the access of both Iran and Turkey into the heartlands of al-Jazira. Russia is cognizant that both Iran and Turkey are implacable enemies of the Kurds and would never permit the Kurds to establish a viable entity on their border despite Russian support. The Turkish-Iranian joint operations against the Kurds in northern Iraq are a harbinger of the anti-Kurdish escalation to come, an escalation which Russia cannot prevent.

At the same time, Russia is still the main great power in the region, and the facilitator of the PRC’s access and development projects.

To retain their vital interests in the context of the ascent of the bloc, Russia might have to face the imperative for significant compromises. Russian experts and officials acknowledge the existence of a worst-case scenario focusing on the Russian presence along the eastern shores of the Mediterranean (beyond the Aleppo-Damascus highway) while blocking US/Western encroachment. To attain this, Russia would have to forge closer alliance with the ‘Alawites, the Druze, and Syria’s urban élites, as well as shield Israel (and its huge Russia-origin population) from both Iran and Turkey. That said, holding onto the belt along the shores of the Mediterranean would also mean blocking the vital arteries of transportation which both Iran and Turkey are determined to establish.

Hence, the Kremlin concedes, confrontation might be inevitable.

As a result, on March 19, 2019, as the tripartite military summit convened in Damascus, Russia Pres. Vladimir Putin dispatched Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu to Damascus. The primary objective of Shoigu’s visit was to guarantee Russian interests in the context of the new regional posture.

He met first with Pres. Bashar al-Assad and conveyed a special message from Putin. Minister Shoigu held talks with Pres. Assad, the entire Syrian defense leadership, and senior Russian generals. Assad and his generals conceded that there was no substitute to the Russian military aid, and that without Russia it would be impossible to complete the defeat of the jihadists and liberate Syrian territory.

Shoigu responded that Russia “would continue to support efforts to regain the Syrian regime’s control of all the country” under the conditions of a genuine alliance. “Syria, with the support of Russia, undoubtedly achieved significant success in the fight against international terrorism,” Shoigu reminded his interlocutors. He explained that the Kremlin was most interested in “the issues related to fighting international terrorism along with various aspects of Mideast security and post-conflict settlement”.

Assad was effusive in his praise for Putin and the Russian help, but Shuigo was not convinced.

Meanwhile, the Qataris and their allies have made it clear that they do not fear a US reaction to the emergence of “the Middle Eastern Entente”.

Qatari senior officials attribute this to repeated threats from Doha that should the US interfere with the new bloc and its ascent to prominence, Doha would order the immediate closure of the huge US base in Al-Udeid, Qatar, and would also stop interceding with Tehran to prevent Iran-sponsored Shi’ite jihadists from attacking the US Navy base in Bahrain. As well, the growing dependence of the US Intelligence Community on Turkish Intelligence (Milli ?stihbarat Te?kilat?: MIT) for clandestine operations in Central Asia and in sup-port of the secessionist Muslim communities of both Russia and China accounts for the US muted reaction to the Turkish abandonment of NATO.

The same logic would negate US resistance to the ascent of the bloc. Similarly, the US eagerness for a Trump-Rouhani summit (tailored after the Trump-Kim summit), where Qatar and Oman were the chief mediators, would also restrain a harsh reaction to Iran’s growing regional rôle.

The Trump Administration is cognizant of the US limitations in the greater Middle East.

At the same time, the US remains adamant on preventing the PRC and Russia from consolidating their influence in the greater Middle East and bringing the New Silk Road into the region. Senior US officials, mainly National Security Adviser John Bolton and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, have warned repeatedly that there could be no compromise with the PRC, nor tolerance of the ascent of the PRC anywhere. “This is a very big issue, how to deal with China in this century — probably the biggest international issue we face,” Bolton said on March 21, 2019.

Since US influence in the Arab Middle East had, by 2019, become close to non-existent, despite the presence of US forces in Syria-Iraq-Jordan and special relations with Saudi Arabia, the US focus has been on stifling the primary north-south and east-west arteries between Russia, the PRC, and the greater Middle East by hitting the weakest link: Azerbaijan.

Washington is convinced that if great pressure is applied, then Baku would cut the crucial transportation arteries passing through, and interlinking in, Azerbaijan to the detriment of the New Silk Road and the bloc supporting it. This, however, would only galvanize both Turkey and Iran into further anti-US actions in and around the greater Middle East, thus further empowering “the Middle Eastern Entente”.

Moreover, Washington’s logic dismisses the reality that if Azerbaijan complied, it would be substantially isolated and without the means to have its exports reach their markets.

By Yossef Bodansky via Defense and Foreign Affairs

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  Source: https://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/Middle-East/New-Middle-East-Alliance-Shakes-World-Powers.html

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It would seem that the Saudis won’t just spend money to pay for forming alliances with the U.S. next to the infamous orb in Riyadh and trying to form an anti-Iran bloc in the region. The decision by regional powers to have an asymmetrical relationship with the United States often results in fragility and a violation of their national interests. The security services that countries with no autonomy purchase with cash tends to be a nuisance and, if necessary, a threat against their employer.

Trump’s crude words must not be viewed independently of his address to the United Nations, where he warned the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) members not to raise oil prices. After all, Saudi Arabia remains one of the world’s largest oil producers. In other words, the Trump administration doesn’t want the Saudis to raise oil prices in order to pay the United States.

In response to Trump’s statement, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman gave an interview to Bloomberg, where he attempted to defend his country’s pride. The crown prince told reporters that Riyadh had already paid for the weapons that it purchased from the United States. He added that Saudi Arabia had been around since 1744 – three decades earlier than the United States. To be clear, those words weren’t intended as a criticism of Donald Trump. Riyadh works very hard to irreversibly align its policies with Washington’s priorities. For this purpose, the Saudis have ended up adopting the Israeli position on Palestine and Jerusalem. Having taken huge risks to make concessions that amounted to a break with traditional Saudi foreign policy, the House of Saud appears to think that it has no choice but to embrace Trump. Hence the crown prince’s efforts to downplay the U.S. president’s remarks: A friend, he argues, can say good or bad things.

Another incident that captured the world’s attention was the disappearance of Saudi journalist and dissident Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. Last week, he entered the Saudi Consulate to obtain official papers necessary to get married in Turkey, and never came back. Turkish police are concerned that Khashoggi was murdered, dismembered and carried out of the Saudi mission in multiple bags.

Riyadh has a long history of abductions and enforced disappearances when it comes to dissidents. The 1979 disappearance of Nassir al-Sa’id in Beirut, the 2003 abduction of Prince Sultan bin Turki in Geneva immediately come to mind. So does the suspicious disappearance of Saud bin Saif al Nasr. Again, the detention and forced resignation of Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri wasn’t too long ago.

The Khashoggi scandal could deal a serious blow to Turkey-Saudi relations. If the authorities are right about what happened, it will be difficult for Riyadh to explain why it decided to kill a dissident at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. At this point, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said that he is “very sorry” and pledged to “closely monitor” the investigation. Going forward, Turkish and Saudi officials need to work together to shed light on this incident.

Moreover, we must point out that this affair amounts to a scandal with serious international repercussions for the Saudis. Having spent millions of dollars over several weeks to portray himself as a “reformist” in Washington, the Saudi crown prince now faces fierce criticism there. There is talk about the U.S. Congress moving to “punish” Saudi Arabia – which could derail ongoing efforts to create the Middle East Strategic Alliance that is intended to bring together Egypt, Jordan and the six members of the Gulf Cooperation Council. Riyadh must understand the limits and dangers of collaborating with Donald Trump. It has no choice but to engage Turkey on the basis of cooperation.

Greed must be brought under control. Covert operations only serve to ruin friendships.

Source: https://www.dailysabah.com/columns/duran-burhanettin/2018/10/11/saudi-arabia-is-in-big-trouble

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The conference will seek to maintain international engagement in delivering assistance to the Syrian people and host communities, in addition to providing an opportunity to discuss the political situation in the war-torn nation on a global level, it added.

The first day of the conference ( April 24) will bring together around 200 NGOs from Syria and the region for dialogue with UN agencies, ministers of refugee-hosting countries and international donors, it pointed out.

In light of the latest developments in Syria, the EU reaffirms that only a political solution will ensure lasting stability in the country, through the efforts of the UN Special Envoy for Syria as well as the UN-led process to achieve an intra-Syrian political solution.

Meanwhile, the ministerial sessions on Wednesday will cover all key aspects of the conflict, which include political and humanitarian factors, in addition to economic recovery for the region.

According to EU sources, the foreign ministers of Kuwait, Bahrain, UAE, Qatar, Jordan and the Prime Minister of Lebanon are due to attend the conference, while it remains to be seen if Iran and Russia will participate in any capacity.

The Gulf Cooperation Council, Islamic Development Bank, Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, along with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) are also expected to be present.

The first Brussels Conference last year produced a sum USD 6 billion in humanitarian and development aid to Syria and the region, while donors pledged a sum of USD 3.7 billion for the years 2018-20, in addition to USD 30 billion in loans.

According to the EU, USD 7.5 billion in grants was contributed by donors for Syria and neighboring countries (Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq and Egypt) in 2017, exceeding by 26% the original pledge of USD 6 billion, while a total of USD 2.4 billion was contributed as of March 2018. Out of the USD 30 billion worth of loans pledged for the period 2016-2020, more than half (57% or USD 17.2 billion) have been contributed so far. The Brussels conferences on Syria and the region follows similar initiatives such as the London Conference of February 2016, which was held under the leadership of the United Kingdom, Germany, Kuwait, Norway and the UN. International donors pledged significant financial aid for Syria, as well as civilian stabilization measures to strengthen resilience in host communities, building on the commitments made at the three previous pledging conferences in Kuwait from 2013-15, the EU information added.

Source: https://www.kuna.net.kw/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=2722476&Language=en

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