Countries pledge over $1.5bn to aid Syrians

Donor countries have pledged over $1.5bn (€1.1bn) to aid Syrians stricken by civil war, UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon said after warning that the conflict had wrought a catastrophic humanitarian crisis.

In a pointed message for Syria’s leader, Ban told a fundraising conference that President Bashar al-Assad bore primary responsibility to stop his country’s suffering after nearly two years of conflict that have cost an estimated 60,000 lives.

“Every day Syrians face unrelenting horrors,” Ban told the gathering in Kuwait, adding that these included sexual violence and arbitrary killings. Sixty-five people were shot dead execution-style in Aleppo on Tuesday, activists said.