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U.N. Pays Millions of Dollars to Assad’s Regime and Family | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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A Red Crescent convoy carrying humanitarian aid arrives in Kafr Batna, on the outskirts of Damascus, on February 23, 2016 (AFP Photo/Amer Almohibany)


Beirut- Paris- The United Nations has been shook to its core, surprised with the scandal surfacing on millions worth of contracts being granted by the world body to members and organizations affiliated with Syria’s head of regime Bashar al-Assad.

Assad’s spouse, Asma, have cashed in on the contracts under claims of pursuing humanitarian missions. The shock comes as the dealings taking place despite sanctions imposed by the U.S. and the EU.

British daily ‘The Guardian’ wrote on two U.N. agencies having partnered with the Syria Trust charity, an organization founded and chaired by Assad’s wife, Asma, spending a total of $8.5m. The first lady is under both U.S. and EU sanctions.

More so, UNICEF has reportedly paid $268,000 to the Al-Bustan Association, owned and run by Rami Makhlouf, Assad’s friend and cousin, and his charity has been linked to several pro-regime militia groups. Makhlouf, is also known to be Syria’s wealthiest man.

President of the Syrian National Council and member of the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces Abdulbaset Sieda commented on the reports saying that the opposition had long warned it. He added that the U.N. has become rather a weighty burden borne by the Syrian revolution and the people.

As for the field’s status qou in Syria, a U.S.-brokered armistice between Turkey and the Kurdish-backed Jarablus Military Council was reportedly put in order, a Kurdish military official at an SDF-allied group said on Tuesday.

The Jarablus Military Council is a group aligned with U.S.-backed Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

SDF advisor Nasser al-Haj Mansour says that the ceasefire was press-ganged into realization and sponsored by global powers partaking in the international coalition.

With developments taking place, diplomatic cables and high-profile European sources reported U.S. officials conditioning any cooperation with Moscow in Syria would only be after Syrian regime air-power is put aside.

Late Tuesday night, ISIS’ second-in-command who incited lone-wolf terrorist attacks on the West, Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, had been reportedly killed.