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Russia sends $1.3mn aid to Syria
August 2, 2013, 1:19 pm

The UN has called for donations to help Syrian refugee camps such as the above [Getty Images]

The UN estimates that over 1.6 million have been turned into refugees since the start of the conflict [Getty Images]

Russia has sent a $1.3 million humanitarian aid package to Syria, the country’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

“A new batch of humanitarian aid was delivered to Damascus this week,” the ministry said.

The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill appealed for aid for Syria in June. The funds collected from that appeal have been used for shipping the package.

Food, clothes and medical equipment were sent to Damascus as part of the package collected in Russia by the Imperial Orthodox Palestinian Society based in Saint Petersburg.

The Free Syrian Army claimed responsibility for a fresh rocket attack on Thursday in which at least 40 people were killed and more than 150 injured, according to UK-based group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had earlier expressed confidence that the Syrian armed forces would be ‘victorious’.

“If we in Syria were not sure of victory, we would not have had the will to…persevere in the face of more than two years of aggression,” said the president.

The United Nations estimates that about 100,000 people have been killed in Syria and over 1.6 million have been turned into refugees since the start of the conflict in March 2011.

Source: Agencies