US pledges $756 million in aid as Syria battles cholera

The assistance comes as the UN warns the country could ‘return to large scale combat’

US ambassadors to the UN and Turkey, Linda Thomas-Greenfield and Jeff Flake visit the only point of passage allowed for UN relief supplies to reach Idlib. AFP

The US has pledged $756 million in humanitarian assistance to the Syrian people, US ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the UN Security Council.

The extra funding will help partners “provide clean water, food, hygiene and relief supplies, shelter, protection services, and critical health and nutrition assistance", read a statement from the US mission.

The announcement comes amid a cholera outbreak that has killed at least seven and the UN fears it could spread from Aleppo in the north to all 14 provinces.

About 13 million Syrians, which is more than half of the country’s population, are currently displaced.

Of those, 6.8 million have fled beyond the country’s borders and are now refugees.

According to the UN, the civil war, which has ravaged the country for more than a decade, is at risk of flaring up again.

"Syria cannot afford a return to larger-scale fighting, but that is where it may be heading," said Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, chair of the UN's Syria commission.

The US announced in May it would send $800m to Syria to “supporting the future of Syria and the region".

Since the start of the Syrian civil war 11 years ago, the US government has been the single biggest donor of humanitarian aid providing over $15 billion in assistance.

Syria's soaring temperatures – in pictures

Children play in a makeshift pool in the back of a pick-up truck as the temperature soars, at a camp for the internally displaced in Idlib, north-western Syria. All photos: AFP

Volunteers spray water for the children to cool down.

A woman cools down her tent with water amid soaring temperatures in a camp near Syria's Bab Al Hawa border area with Turkey.

Volunteers provide ice for internally displaced people at the camp in Killi in rebel-held Idlib, Syria.

Children play in a makeshift pool in the back of a pick-up truck in Killi, where the temperature has regularly exceeded 40°C in the past few days.

The sun beats down on the camp in Killi.

An inventive method for keeping cool.

Many in Idlib province will be delighted to know that cooler temperatures are forecast for the week ahead, with highs of about 33°C. Nights will remain warm with lows of 21°C.

Reuters contributed to this report