Lebanon lauds GCC relief efforts for Syrian refugees

Lebanese Minister of Social Affairs Rashed Darbas on Monday lauded the humanitarian role of the GCC red crescent societies in helping the Syrian refugees in his country.
Speaking to KUNA on the sidelines of his meeting with a delegation from the GCC red crescent societies, the minister said Kuwait is one of the biggest donors for the large numbers of Syrian refugees in Lebanon.
"Lebanon is in need of more financial and political support to accommodate up to 1.1 million Syrian refugees," he said, noting that nearly 17 percent of the refugees live in random camps and 100,000 student refugees dropped out of school.
Darbas briefed the delegation of the GCC red crescent societies on the needs of the Syrian and Palestinian refugees and discussed with them the possibility of launching a joint special program for launching medical centers at the refugee camps.
Isa Al Ishaq, head of the delegation, said their visit is meant to view at first hand the relief workings on the ground and explore ways for closer coordination among the GCC red crescent societies.
"We are here to assess the needs of the refugees as a prelude to launching joint relief efforts," he said noting that the delegation will present a report on the outcome of the visit to the GCC Secretariat and the higher committee on coordination among the GCC red crescent societies.
On his part, Jassem Al-Tunaiji, representative of the UAE Red Crescent, said the UAERC offered food and medical assistance to more than 100,000 Syrian and Palestinian refugee families.
Meanwhile, head of the standing teamwork on humanitarian situation in Syria Musaed Al-Enezi said: "The visit aims to pool the resources and experiences of the GCC red crescent societies to help Lebanon shoulder its humanitarian responsibility.
"The relief projects, being implemented by the GCC red crescent societies, can be more effective if there is a mechanism of coordination among them," said Al-Enezi, representative of Kuwait Red Crescent Society (KRCS).
The 1.1 million Syrian refugees in Lebanon represent nearly 38 percent of the total number of Syrians who fled conflict in their country to neighboring countries; they added strains on the fragile economic, social, health and education infrastructure of Lebanon.