Civilians walk in the rain past a damaged building in the rebel-controlled area of Maaret al-Numan town in Idlib province, Syria October 28, 2015.

The United States on Saturday announced it is providing nearly $100 million more in aid to the Syrian opposition for tasks like supporting local councils and civil society activists.

This brings to nearly $500 million the amount the United States has pledged to the Syrian opposition since 2002, the State Department said.

The new pledge was made by Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken at a regional security forum called the Manama Dialogue, in Bahrain.

“U.S. assistance is helping keep schools open for Syrian children; restoring access to electricity and water infrastructure; supporting independent media and civil society to hold their local governments accountable, and building the capacity of the moderate opposition to play a role in a future Syria that respects human rights and the rule of law,” the department said in a statement.

This assistance was announced a day after the United States revealed that is sending dozens of special ops forces to Syria to assist forces fighting the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group.

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