DHAKA: UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon says that half of Syria’s population now ‘urgently need humanitarian aid’.

He was speaking at a donor conference in Kuwait to raise funds for the worsening humanitarian crisis.

The UN is asking for $6.5bn over the coming year for Syria, its biggest ever request for a single crisis, reports the BBC.

Meanwhile, Syria’s deputy foreign minister has said Western intelligence agencies have visited Damascus to discuss combating radical Islamists.

‘Half of the total population of Syrian people, nearly 9.3 million individuals, urgently need humanitarian aid,’ Ban said.

It is thought that around that many people have been displaced by the war, both within the country and beyond.

The UN says more than 100,000 people have died since the uprising began.

So far the following countries have promised money at the Kuwait conference:

BDST: 1833 HRS, JAN 15, 2014
Edited by Robab Rosan, Current Affairs Editor