UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Derek Plumbly said on Thursday the plight of refugees arriving from Syria to Lebanon was “truly distressing.”
Plumbly visited the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain al-Hilweh in south Lebanon with Director of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in Lebanon Ann Dismor.
“I have seen the difficult conditions in Ain al-Hilweh. The plight of refugees arriving from Syria is truly distressing,” he said according to a statement released by the UN press office. “UNRWA has been helping within available resources. The needs of Palestinian refugees displaced from Syria were covered in the appeals discussed in the international donors’ conference in Kuwait yesterday. There is clearly an urgent need for more assistance.”
The statement added that it was estimated that more than 4,000 Palestine refugees from Syria are residing in the camp in addition to some 53,000 registered Palestine refugees that already are living in Ain al-Helweh.
The UN official met with Palestinian refugees based in the camp and others who have taken refuge there fleeing the violence in neighboring Syria as well as with leaders of the different factions in the camp.
Lebanon is facing difficulties dealing with the increasingly high number of refugees fleeing Syria’s violent uprising against President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, which has killed more than 60,000 people since its outbreak in March 2011.
Nevertheless, the Lebanese president said earlier on Wednesday that his country was determined to keep the border open to Syrian refugees who have exceeded 200,000 in Lebanon according to reports issued by the UNHCR.
