DAMASCUS (Xinhua) – The Syrian Foreign Ministry on Monday condemned the U.S. for targeting of the Syrian health sector through “inhuman measures.”
In a statement, the ministry slammed the U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) for imposing a new set of sanctions that hinder Syria’s import of medical equipment and spare parts.
Such illegal and unethical sanctions on the Syrian people are “inhuman measures” and are part of the unilateral siege imposed by the United States, said the statement.
It noted that the targeted hospitals that provide health care for millions of Syrians require urgent action by the UN, the World Health Organization, and the Red Cross to put an end to such sanctions.
Meanwhile, Jordan says that the funds it received in 2022 for its support plan for Syrian refugees in the country only met about 30 percent of its total requirements, state-run Al-Mamlaka TV reported.
The Jordan Response Plan for the Syria Crisis (JRPSC) received only 670 million U.S. dollars in 2022, falling far short of the total funding requirements of 2.28 billion dollars for the year, Al-Mamlaka TV quoted Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Zeina Toukan as saying.
The international support for the JRPSC has declined over the past years because of the global political and economic repercussions, which has directly affected foreign assistance for Jordan, she added.
Alaa Hakeem, an economic news editor at the Jordan Press Foundation, ascribes the decline in assistance to Jordan to pressures from the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the global inflation that have affected many countries across the world.
However, “Syrian refugees are still in Jordan and the kingdom continues to provide services to them and this is increasing the burden on the Jordanian government and people,” Hakeem told Xinhua.
Jordan hosts about 1.3 million Syrian refugees, according to the Jordanian government.