Intl donors raise $4.4bn in emergency aid for Syria, fall short without US pledge

International donors raised $4.4 billion in emergency aid for Syria and its neighbors on Wednesday at a conference in Brussels. However, the total fell well short of the UN target for 2018 after the United States failed to submit a pledge, Reuters reported. Britain and Germany offered new money for refugees at the conference, which brought together some 85 governments and aid groups. Pledges were less than the $6 billion gathered for 2017 as US President Donald Trump cuts foreign aid. “A number of important donors have not yet been in a position to confirm their financing for 2018 because of the status of their internal budgetary discussions,” UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock said. “That includes the US, which has been providing more than $1 billion a year to Syria and the region in recent years,” he said.