BEIRUT - Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati said that Lebanon has responded to the humanitarian needs of the Syrian refugees on its soil.
 
“Lebanon has not shied away from fulfilling its humanitarian duties toward the Syrian refugees,” Miqati said following a meeting on Thursday with Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos.
 
“It is, however, disappointed with the International community for ignoring pleas for humanitarian aid.”
 
He also said that the international community did not appropriately assess the scale of the humanitarian crisis.
 
In turn, Amos said that the UN, non-governmental agencies and other partners, were working to support Lebanon and other host countries in dealing with the refugees crisis.
 
“We addressed the situation during the winter season, and the communities who require help. The UN has a winter plan to provide support for such communities.”
 
The UN official later met with President Michel Suleiman, and discussed “ways to support Lebanon, through the implementation of the decisions of the International Support Group for Lebanon,” the National News Agency reported. 
 
Earlier in the day, Lebanon’s caretaker Social Affairs Minister Wael Abou Faour said that the situation of the Syrian refugees is “disastrous,” amid the winter storm that has blanketed regions with snow for the second day in a row.
 
“I am terrified because the situation is disastrous and we are helpless,” Abou Faour said in comments to Akhbar al-Yawm news agency.
 
The caretaker minister blamed this “incapacity” on the “absence of political decisions to establish official refugee camps” for the Syrians.
 
Meanwhile, the Social Affairs Ministry stated that its teams continued to cooperate with army units, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and humanitarian organizations, in order to distribute emergency aid to Syrian refugees across the country.
 
Lebanon is witnessing snowfall at altitudes as low as 500 meters and a significant drop in temperatures, in the second day of a winter storm.
 
The storm, known as “Alexa”, has killed two people and injured 14 others.
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