Abou Faour: Lebanon Unable to Support Burden of Syrian Refugees
Social Affairs Minister Wael Abou Faour stated that Lebanon is in need of $115 million to aid Syrian refugees who have poured into the country, reported As Safir newspaper on Saturday.
He told the newspaper: “Lebanon is unable to support the burden of assisting the Syrians.”
“The moral duty obligates the Lebanese state to harbor them, especially since the Syrians have long harbored the Lebanese” during times of need, said the minister.
He noted that the flow of refugees had diminished since Friday.
The majority of them have since settled in Beirut and the Mount Lebanon region, where they are staying in hotels or rented apartments.
Abou Faour remarked that some 1,500 Syrian refugees have remained in the Bekaa.
Up to 30,000 Syrians fled into Lebanon since Thursday, announced the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees on Friday.
In Thursday's fighting, more than 300 people were killed, the majority of whom were civilians, making it the heaviest toll yet in 16 months of fighting, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Friday.
Prime Minister Najib Miqati stressed to al-Joumhouria that the financial obligations to the refugees are among his main concerns and he is keen on providing them with the necessary aid.
“The financial situation will not act as an obstacle as we attempt to achieve our goal,” he stated.
“God willing, we will be able to handle the situation in the best circumstances possible,” remarked the premier.
Public schools are being prepared to harbor the Syrian refugees, who had been fleeing to Lebanon and other nearby countries to escape the Damascus regime crackdown against protests that started in March 2011.
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