Washington, DC - The United States applauds today’s announcement by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia of its generous contribution of $100 million for ongoing, Coalition-supported stabilization efforts in areas liberated from ISIS in Syria. Saudi Arabia made this pledge when Secretary Pompeo hosted his counterparts at a meeting of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS in Brussels on July 12 and we appreciate that they are fulfilling this commitment.
This significant contribution is critical to stabilization and early recovery efforts and comes at an important time in the campaign; ISIS’s territorial control is down to its last 400 square miles, nearly 150,000 internally displaced people have returned to the city of Raqqa; and, thanks to the Coalition, partners on the ground are restoring essential services to residents of northeast Syria. Stabilization and early recovery programming is critical to ensure ISIS cannot reemerge and use Syria as a base to threaten the people of the region or plot attacks against the international community.
This contribution follows the request from President Trump for partners to share the burden of promoting stability in Syria to safeguard the military gains achieved against ISIS and secure the enduring defeat of ISIS. Many Coalition partners have made pledges and contributions in recent months and the United States appreciates all partners who have stepped up to support this critical effort.
Saudi Arabia has been a leading partner in the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS from the outset. Saudi Arabia is a founding partner of the Coalition and hosted the meeting that helped establish it in 2014. Saudi Arabia has since contributed in many ways, including undertaking airstrikes in Syria, co-leading the Coalition’s Counter Finance Working Group, establishing the Etidal Center to combat extremist ideology, receiving over 2 million Syrians fleeing the violence, and providing over $1 billion in humanitarian assistance since the beginning of the Syrian conflict.
While we applaud the leadership Saudi Arabia has shown, there is still significant work to be done in the fight against ISIS, especially to assist stabilization efforts in liberated areas. We continue to call on all Coalition members, regional partners, and allies to do their share in this effort that helps bring greater stability and security to the region.