Miqati in Kuwait for Syria Donors Conference

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati arrived Tuesday in Kuwait to represent Lebanon in the Second International Humanitarian Pledging Conference for Syria, which will kick off Wednesday under the chairmanship of U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon.

“Following his arrival, Miqati headed to his residence location at the Bayan Palace,” his office said.

The conference aims to raise $6.5 billion for more than 13.4 million Syrians facing extreme conditions inside the country and in neighboring nations.

At the first donors conference in January 2013, Kuwait promised and later paid $300 million out of total pledges of $1.5 billion.

The U.N. has described the Syria appeal as the largest ever in its history for a single humanitarian emergency.

President Michel Suleiman urged donors during the January 2013 conference to provide Lebanon with $370 million assistance for refugees from Syria and called for countries to take in some of the displaced after ringing the alarm bell.

The Lebanese government had approved a $370 million comprehensive plan for the refugees -- $180 for Lebanese state institutions and $190 for international agencies, Suleiman told the conference.

Despite expectations of a higher influx in the coming months, the “government insists on keeping the border open,” Suleiman told the first conference around a year ago.

More than 850,000 Syrian refugees are registered in Lebanon, although the real number is thought to total more than one million.

Thousands live in makeshift camps built from plastic sheeting and wooden frames while others live in unfinished buildings with only little protection from winter weather.