The United States pledged on Wednesday 76 million dollars to Lebanon to help it cope with the rising number of Syrian refugees escaping the war in their country.

The United States pledged on Wednesday 76 million dollars to Lebanon to help it cope with the rising number of Syrian refugees escaping the war in their country, the Lebanese National News Agency reported.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati during a meeting they held in Kuwait that the U.S. earmarked 76 million dollars to Lebanon to support the Syrian refugees, NNA said.

NNA quoted Kerry as telling Mikati that Washington will continue its cooperation with Lebanon to support the national army, while stressing that the pledge made to assist Lebanon is the highest made to any country hosting refugees so far.

For his part, Mikati urged the international community to assist Lebanon to build appropriate camps for the arriving Syrian refugees.

At the conference, Kuwait pledged 500 million dollars and the United States promised 380 million dollars to alleviate the suffering of Syrians affected by the country's civil war.

The United Nations is appealing for $6.5 billion this year to help Syrians affected by the war, its largest-ever funding request for a single crisis.

Kerry said at the conference that the U.S. contribution of $380 million will brings America's humanitarian aid contribution to Syrian victims to $1.7 billion since the crisis erupted.

Half of the money — 177 million dollars — will go to U.N. programs for victims still in Syria. The rest is for neighboring nations that have taken in an estimated 2.3 million refugees who have fled the country.