Europe to give 400 million euros to Syria

The European Union will send another 400 million euros ($523 million) of aid to Syria and its neighbors, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said on Thursday, calling Syria "a stain on the world's conscience", Reuters reported. 

Barroso said the EU was already the biggest humanitarian donor in response to the crisis, committing more than 840 million euros to alleviate what he called "the most dramatic humanitarian situation in the last decade".

"But the worsening of the situation requires extraordinary measures. This is why (we) will deploy a comprehensive package of humanitarian and non-humanitarian assistance, mobilizing an additional 400 million euros for Syria and neighboring countries, in particular Lebanon and Jordan," Reuters quotes Barroso. 

At least 80,000 people have died in the two-year uprising against President Bashar al-Assad. The United Nations refugee agency said last month that more than 1.5 million people had fled Syria, nearly two thirds of them to Lebanon and Jordan.