US says redirects Syria funds as allies pony up $300 million

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Aleppo 2014-06-04 ALEPPO, SYRIA - JUNE 3: Apartments and buildings are destroyed on the attack of Syrian army with heavy weapons in Aleppo, Syria on 3 June, 2014. It is informed that 100 people (13 children, 7 women) died on the attack. (Photo by Salih Mahmud Leyla/Anadolu Agency/TT/Sipa USA)

WASHINGTON: The US State Department said on Friday it will redirect $230 million in frozen funding away from Syria and had raised $300 million from coalition partners for recovery efforts in areas retaken from Islamic State militants in northeast Syria.

President Donald Trump had frozen the funds in March while his administration reassessed Washington’s role in the Syrian conflict.

The department’s spokeswoman Heather Nauert said Saudi Arabia had contributed $100 million and United Arab Emirates had pledged $50 million toward the new funding.

“This decision does not represent any lessening of US commitment to our strategic goals in Syria,” Nauert said in a statement.