Emergency refugee aid was delivered Tuesday to more than two thousand Syrian families across Lebanon.
During the distribution of Qatari emergency aid in Akkar, Qinyeh Mayor Ghazi Khaled said “there are 1,200 Syrian families benefiting from [Qatari] assistance and these families are spread across seven towns in Jabal Akroum.”
Tuesday’s aid distribution comes two days after Qatar dispatched emergency assistance for Syrian refugees and host communities who had been snowed in by a violent storm that battered Lebanon over three days last week.
Two planes belonging to Qatar’s air force arrived at Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International Airport Sunday night, carrying 26 tons of blankets, warm winter clothes, plastic sheeting, tents, and food, and 2 tons of medicines, airport sources told The Daily Star.
Director of the Department for International Development in the Qatari Foreign Ministry Ahmad al-Moraikhi noted Tuesday that the decision to distribute the aid in the Jabal Akroum region in Akkar was taken in coordination with the Social Affairs Ministry.
The director said that the Qatari delegation and the Social Affairs Ministry were organizing the distribution of aid according to the needs of every region, the number of refugee families present in the area as well as their place of residence.
Tuesday’s aid was distributed in accordance with a list drafted by the Social Affairs Ministry that included the names and needs of every family, the director said.
The Mourad Development Association also distributed aid to about 600 Syrian families in Jabal Akroum Tuesday. President Kamil Mourad said that distribution targeted the town because last week’s snow storm had prevented any aid from being delivered to refugees in the area.
The United Nations High Commission for Refugees also distributed Tuesday emergency winter aid to Syrian refugees in Batroun.
UNHCR country representative Ninette Kelley said that 771 families living in the area will benefit from aid packages.
According to Kelley, the donations will only target refugees living in villages that fall more than five hundred meters above sea level.
