Given the task definition and input, reply with output. In this task, you are given a text of many news articles seperated by special token "|||||". Your task is to summarize them.

The UN has awarded contracts worth tens of millions of dollars to people closely associated with the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, as part of an aid programme that critics fear is increasingly at the whim of the government in Damascus, a Guardian investigation has found. 
  
 Businessmen whose companies are under US and EU sanctions have been paid substantial sums by the UN mission, as have government departments and charities – including one set up by the president’s wife, Asma al-Assad, and another by his closest associate, Rami Makhlouf. 
  
  
  
 The UN says it can only work with a small number of partners approved by President Assad and that it does all it can to ensure the money is spent properly. 
  
  
  
 “Of paramount importance is reaching as many vulnerable civilians as possible,�? a spokesman said. “Our choices in Syria are limited by a highly insecure context where finding companies and partners who operate in besieged and hard to reach areas is extremely challenging.�? 
  
  
  
 How Assad regime controls UN aid intended for Syria's children Read more 
  
 However, critics believe the UN mission is in danger of being compromised. 
  
  
  
 They believe aid is being prioritised in government-held areas and argue UN money is effectively helping to prop up a regime responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of its own citizens. 
  
  
  
 UN insiders admit the relief mission in Syria is the most expensive, challenging and complex it has ever undertaken. 
  
  
  
 But the contentious decisions it has had to make are now exposed for the first time by a Guardian analysis of hundreds of contracts it has awarded since the operation began in 2011. 
  
  
  
 This shows that: 
  
 The UN has paid more than $13m to the Syrian government to boost farming and agriculture, yet the EU has banned trade with the departments in question for fear of how the money will be used. 
  
 The UN has paid at least $4m to the state-owned fuel supplier, which is also on the EU sanctions list. 
  
 The World Health Organisation has spent more than $5m to support Syria’s national blood bank – but this is being controlled by Assad’s defence department. Documents seen by the Guardian show funds spent on blood supplies came directly from donors who have economic sanctions against the Syrian government, including the UK. They also show the WHO had “concrete concerns�? about whether blood supplies would reach those in need, or be directed to the military first. 
  
 Two UN agencies have partnered with the Syria Trust charity, an organisation started and chaired by President Assad’s wife, Asma, spending a total of $8.5m. The first lady is under both US and EU sanctions. 
  
 Unicef has paid $267,933 to the Al-Bustan Association, owned and run by Rami Makhlouf, Syria’s wealthiest man. He is a friend and cousin of Assad, and his charity has been linked to several pro-regime militia groups. 
  
 Makhlouf runs the mobile phone network Syriatel, which the UN has also paid at least $700,000 in recent years. Makhlouf is on the EU sanctions list and was described in US diplomatic cables as the country’s “poster boy for corruption�?. 
  
 Contracts have been awarded across UN departments with companies run by or linked to individuals under sanctions. 
  
 These contracts show how the United Nations operation has quietly secured deals with individuals and companies that have been designated off-limits by Europe and the US. 
  
  
  
 On top of this, analysis of the United Nations own procurement documents show its agencies have done business with at least another 258 Syrian companies, paying sums as high as $54m and £36m, down to $30,000. Many are likely to have links to Assad, or those close to him. 
  
  
  
 The UN says that its relief work has already saved millions of lives and argues it has to work with the regime if it wants to operate in Syria. 
  
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Bashar and Asma al-Assad help pack aid supplies with volunteers at a food distribution centre in Damascus. Photograph: -/AFP 
  
 It highlights the money it has spent putting up staff at the Four Seasons hotel in Damascus as a case in point. 
  
  
  
 UN agencies paid $9,296,325.59 to the hotel in 2014-15 – which is understood to still be one-third owned by Syria’s ministry of tourism, a department outlawed under EU sanctions. 
  
  
  
 The hotel is deemed the safest place for UN personnel to stay in the Syrian capital. 
  
  
  
 “Operating in Syria, with the conflict now entering its sixth year, forces humanitarians to make difficult choices,�? a UN spokesman said. 
  
  
  
 “When faced with having to decide whether to procure goods or services from businesses that may be affiliated with the government or let civilians go without life-saving assistance, the choice is clear: our duty is to the civilians in need.�? 
  
  
  
 The UN also points out it does not have to abide by EU or US sanctions. It only needs to abide by UN sanctions. 
  
  
  
 But one serving UN official told the Guardian there was unease within some of its agencies about the grip Assad’s government has on the relief effort. 
  
  
  
 The official, who has worked extensively inside Syria, said that while operating inside the country was challenging, the UN’s position was disappointing. Another said that all conflicts presented difficult working conditions but the “situation in Syria just doesn’t happen anywhere else�?. 
  
  
  
 Another UN official who worked in Damascus early in the conflict told the Guardian: “The UN country team knew from the early days of the conflict that neither the government nor its authorised list of local associations for partnership with the UN could be considered as befitting the humanitarian principles of independence, neutrality and impartiality. 
  
  
  
 “This important consideration was stepped aside by the UN to satisfy the government’s leadership demand for the humanitarian response. This set the tone for UN entanglement with entities closely associated with the government.�? 
  
  
  
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Syrian children queue to receive aid. Photograph: Abd Doumany/AFP 
  
 Sources also describe a worrying “culture of silence�? about the internal workings of the UN’s Damascus operation. 
  
  
  
 Dr Reinoud Leenders, an expert in in war studies based at King’s College in London, said the UN needed to rethink its strategy because it had become too close to the regime. 
  
  
  
 “UN officials argue that given the complex and often dangerous realities in which they are expected to provide aid, some concessions and accommodation of the government’s demands are inevitable. Yet ... the UN’s alleged pragmatism has long given way to troubling proximity to the regime.�? 
  
  
  
 Leenders said UN agencies had paid “lucrative procurement contracts to Syrian regime cronies who are known to bankroll the very repression and brutality that caused much of the country’s humanitarian needs�?. 
  
  
  
 UN's $4bn aid effort in Syria is morally bankrupt | Reinoud Leenders Read more 
  
 The academic has interviewed many independent aid workers for a study on Syria. They told him some UN officials were displaying signs of “clear-cut Stockholm syndrome�?. 
  
  
  
 A senior member of the humanitarian community who leaked information to the Guardian said: “There are obviously questions over some of these UN procurements. 
  
 “But at least the UN publishes the names of their suppliers. Many of the international NGOs won’t even do that. Very limited transparency is a problem that affects the whole aid effort in Syria. Given that the aid industry has been talking [about] the need for more transparency for decades, it’s high time we had proper independent scrutiny of where this money is going and how it is being spent.�? 
  
 In June, the Syria Campaign accused the UN of breaching its principles in the conflict by effectively letting the government control aid deliveries. 
  
  
  
 More than 50 humanitarian, human rights and civil society groups back a report which said the UN had given in to demands not to help rebel-held areas, contributing to the death of thousands of civilians. 
  
  
  
 The report said the Assad government controlled aid by threatening to remove the UN’s permission to operate within Syria. 
  
  
  
 “The Syrian government has used this threat consistently since then to manipulate where, how and to whom the UN has been able to deliver humanitarian aid,�? it adds. ||||| Human rights groups say UN needs to restore trust after the Guardian revealed contracts had been awarded to agencies linked to Bashar al-Assad 
  
 The United Nations is under increasing pressure to set up an independent inquiry into its Syria aid programme after a Guardian investigation found contracts worth tens of millions of dollars have been awarded to people closely associated with the president, Bashar al-Assad. 
  
 Former UN officials, diplomats, lawyers, and the head of Human Rights Watch (HRW) are among those who have raised serious concerns about the way Damascus appears to be directing the aid effort and benefiting from some of these deals. 
  
 UN pays tens of millions to Assad regime under Syria aid programme Read more 
  
 Salman Shaikh, a Middle East specialist who has worked for the UN, said it was time for the secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, to intervene. “It’s as serious as that,” he added. 
  
 The UN says its work has saved millions of lives. But it concedes it can only stay in Syria with the approval of Assad, who has restricted which partners its agencies are able to work with. 
  
 “Our choices in Syria are limited by a highly insecure context where finding companies and partners who operate in besieged and hard to reach areas is extremely challenging,” a UN spokesman said. 
  
 Analysis by the Guardian revealed UN agencies have been awarding substantial contracts to Syrian government departments and Syrian businessmen whose companies are under US and EU sanctions. 
  
  
  
 Documents show the World Health Organisation has spent more than $5m (£3.3m) to support Syria’s national blood bank, which is being controlled by Assad’s defence department, raising questions about whether blood supplies are reaching those in need or are being directed to the military first. 
  
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Syrians queue for water at a shelter in Hirjalleh, a rural area near the capital Damascus. Photograph: Xinhua / Barcroft Images 
  
 The UN’s own procurement documents show its agencies have done business with at least another 258 Syrian companies, paying sums as high as $54m and £36m. Many are likely to have links to Assad, or those close to him. 
  
 “In the name of delivering aid to some needy people in opposition-held areas, the UN is subsidising the Syrian government’s war-crimes strategy of targeting those same people,” said Kenneth Roth, executive director of HRW. “That’s hardly the tough-minded pragmatism that the UN claims is informing its aid efforts.” 
  
 Antonia Mulvey, the founder and executive director of Legal Action Worldwide, said the UN’s conduct was an example of “pragmatism versus principles playing out in a conflict. Upholding fundamental human rights loses nearly every time.” 
  
 The Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS), which runs more than 100 clinics in Syria, mostly in areas outside government control, told the Guardian that the Syrian defence ministry had tight control of kits at the country’s blood banks. “Activists and medical workers started to smuggle [supplies] to areas under siege and field hospitals,” said Dr Zaher Sahloul. 
  
 “It is shocking to find out the UN, through funding from the US and UK, have supported the regime’s blood banks while the same regime targeted, tortured and killed medics and activists who were trying to smuggle supplies to save the lives of the victims of regime atrocities.” 
  
 Shaikh, founder of the Shaikh Group, which promotes dialogue among the various parties in Syria, , said he had worked for the UN when its former secretary general, Kofi Annan, set up inquiries into Rwanda and the “oil for food” allegations. 
  
 “Ban Ki-moon now needs to do something similar here. Talking to Syrians, the mistrust and the lack of confidence regarding the UN’s efforts and particularly those inside the country is something that’s going to bedevil the whole international community for a very long time. 
  
 “We can’t condemn the UN totally – it is a complicated situation in Syria, which is why he needs to move fast to restore trust in the organisation. He needs to establish an inquiry with a mandate to investigate the facts of the system’s response to the humanitarian crisis in Syria, and it should cover the period March 2011 to December 2016.” 
  
 UN's $4bn aid effort in Syria is morally bankrupt | Reinoud Leenders Read more 
  
 A senior European diplomat, who asked not to be named, said those countries with influence on Damascus had to put Assad under considerable political pressure to make it easier for the UN to operate in Syria. “It remains a reality that the UN can never be better than its member states, particularly the permanent members of the security council.” 
  
 The UN aid operation in Syria is the most expensive and complex it has ever undertaken. It argues it has already saved millions of lives during the brutal five-year conflict. Privately, officials fear if they over-challenge Assad the UN will be thrown out of the country. 
  
 “Operating in Syria, with the conflict now entering its sixth year, forces humanitarians to make difficult choices,” a UN spokesman said. 
  
  
  
 “When faced with having to decide whether to procure goods or services from businesses that may be affiliated with the government or let civilians go without life-saving assistance, the choice is clear: our duty is to the civilians in need.” 
  
  
  
 The UN also points out it does not have to abide by EU or US sanctions. It only needs to abide by UN sanctions. 
  
 The United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (Unicef) said it had little choice but to work with the Syrian regime. “The alternative is stark: many more children dying or suffering. This is the dilemma that Unicef and humanitarian agencies face on a daily basis. 
  
 “Children in Syria are hurting because of the failure of politicians to reach a peaceful solution to the war. We cannot let them down. We must do everything to alleviate the suffering of children.” |||||

United Nations aid is making the Syrian civil war a very profitable enterprise for cronies of President Bashar al-Assad, according to a Guardian investigation. The aid—tens of millions of dollars of it, in some cases—has been awarded to hundreds of businesses closely linked to the regime, some of which are under US or European Union sanctions. Government departments, including the military-controlled national blood bank, have also received aid, as has a charity controlled by Assad's wife, Asma al-Assad. The UN says it has saved many lives and often has little choice but to cooperate with the regime. It points to the $9 million it has spent at the Four Seasons in Damascus, which is one-third owned by a government ministry—and is the safest place in the city for its workers to stay. Critics, however, say the UN has become far too close to the regime and its support of the Assad-controlled relief effort may be actually prolonging the war, notes a separate piece in the Guardian. "In the name of delivering aid to some needy people in opposition-held areas, the UN is subsidizing the Syrian government’s war-crimes strategy of targeting those same people," says Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch. "That's hardly the tough-minded pragmatism that the UN claims is informing its aid efforts." Roth is among those calling for an independent review of the UN's Syria aid program, which has so far spent around $4 billion in the country; many want Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to intervene personally. (The 10,000th Syrian refugee arrives in the US this week.)