NZ to give another $1m to Syrians affected by war

People queue to evacuate Aleppo. Photo / Getty Images

New Zealand will provide an additional $1 million to help Syrians affected by their country's brutal civil war, including those in Aleppo.

Foreign Minister Murray McCully said the money would go to the International Committee of the Red Cross, which has been helping evacuate civilians from Aleppo.

"New Zealanders are appalled at the ongoing death and destruction in Syria and the conditions on the ground in besieged areas such as east Aleppo," McCully said.

"During our time on the United Nations Security Council, New Zealand has actively pushed for greater humanitarian access and a political resolution to the Syrian crisis, and it was a key focus of our presidency of the council in September."

The latest contribution brought New Zealand's direct support for people forced from their homes because of conflicts in Syria and Iraq to more than $26 million since 2012.
In June Cabinet agreed to increase New Zealand's annual refugee quota from 750 to 1000, which will cost $20.6 million a year in the long-run.

NGOs have strongly lobbied for the refugee quota to be at least doubled, a position that had broad support among other parties in Parliament.

The Syrian government took full control of Aleppo on Thursday for the first time in four years after the last opposition fighters and civilians were bussed out of war-ravaged eastern districts, sealing the end of the rebellion's most important stronghold.

The evacuations ended a brutal chapter in Syria's nearly six-year civil war, allowing President Bashar Assad to regain full authority over the country's largest city and former commercial powerhouse. It marked his most significant victory since an uprising against his family's four-decade rule began in 2011.

Under a deal brokered by Russia and Turkey, tens of thousands of residents and fighters began evacuating to opposition-controlled areas in the surrounding countryside, a process that took a week.

More than 35,000 fighters and civilians were bussed out, according to the United Nations.

The Red Cross said more than 4000 additional fighters were evacuated in private cars, vans and trucks since Wednesday.

- additional reporting AP