Telethon generates $32.5m for Syrians on first day

A Saudi girl donates money for the people of Syria in Riyadh, early Tuesday. The Saudi National Campaign to Support Syria was launched Monday throughout the Kingdom and will end Friday. — Reuters

RIYADH – Saudi Arabia collected nearly $32.5 million on the first day of a fundraising campaign to support people in Syria, where an uprising has left thousands dead.

“The total cash donations collected by the national Saudi campaign in support of the brothers in Syria reached SR121,771,811 ($32.5 million) on the first day (Monday),” the Saudi Press Agency said.

King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, launched the campaign by donating SR20 million ($5.3 million).

Crown Prince Salman Bin Abdul Aziz, Deputy Premier and Minister of Defense, donated SR10 million ($2.6 million).

SR5 million was donated by Alwaleed Foundation.

The campaign, which will last five days, also collected food, medical equipment, clothes, tents, blankets, and jewelry.

Prince Ahmed Bin Abdul Aziz, Minister of Interior, said Monday the campaign will run through Friday.

Saudi philanthropists and businessmen in different parts of the Kingdom donated to the fund in cash and kind.

The campaign also brought writers, thinkers and intellectuals who provided commentary on the current situation of Syrian victims on Saudi TV.

Saudi Arabia has been providing relief aid for Syrian refugees in Jordan and Lebanon, and last month Saudi businessmen sent a convoy of food supplies for Syrians living in Jordan. The 13-truck convoy carried 312 tons of supplies including 10,000 food packets and was distributed by members of the Saudi and Jordanian Red Crescent societies to the refugees. The Saudi Red Crescent in association with the International Islamic Relief Organization Saudi Arabia (IIROSA) is providing housing and medical and food assistance to Syrian refugees in Lebanon.

Prince Faisal Bin Abdullah, President of the Saudi Red Crescent Authority, met his counterparts from Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon to discuss the distribution of supplies among Syrian refugees in their countries.

Nearly half a million Syrian refugees who fled their homeland to escape violence have been accommodated in refugee camps set up in Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon. – SG/SPA