U.S. begins to cut Stabilization Aid to Turkish controlled parts of Aleppo Province and Afrin, throwing 100s of employees out of jobs & into arms of militias. Fascinating insight into US role in Turkish dominated areas -The above is from Joshua Landis' Twitter page; it's his take yesterday on a July 25 report Facing cuts in U.S. aid, Aleppo Stabilisation Committee tightens links with Turkey by Lars Hauch for Ahval News (I never heard of either before). His report begins:
In March 2018, US President Donald Trump announced a decision to freeze $200 million allocated for recovery efforts in Syria. The State Department said it would continue to work with partners on the ground to provide support for vulnerable areas, but that does not necessarily apply to areas under Turkish control, the head of Aleppo’s Stabilization Committee (SC) told Ahval.
“The American decision to stop support for humanitarian projects in northwestern Syria hit us hard. Especially because countries like the United Kingdom and EU member states have already halted their support as well.
The funding for ongoing projects will end in late August and will inflict the financial situation of the SC, meaning that we have to wind down our activities,“ Munzer Al Sallal said.
Recent reports point to the danger the abrupt financial vacuum by the U.S. cut in aid has left. In the province of Idlib, hundreds of employees of civil society organisations have already lost their jobs. Finding themselves in a precarious war economy, many joined armed groups to earn a living.
[...]But what idiot in the Obama regime decided to start with those funds? Anyhow it was just yesterday I posted a report from FARS on the epidemic of infighting and K&R that's broken out in Afrin. Now we need not wonder why Turkish backed militias in Afrin are turning to holding so many people for ransom; this in addition to plunder and squabbling with each other over the spoils.
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