U.A.E.'s Red Crescent continues relief aid efforts for the displaced in Arsal

Abu Dhabi (WAM): Emirates Red Crescent (ERC) is providing more emergency humanitarian aid to refugees in the Lebanese border town of Arsal where thousands of people were displaced by recent violence to the neighbouring villages and towns. ERC said its office in Lebanon last Thursday started to distribute emergency shelter, healthcare and medical aid, mattresses, detergents and food parcels to the displaced families in the city of Baalbek and other towns in the Bekaa Valley. Thousands of people fled the fighting in Arsal into the towns of Qob Elias, Saadnayel, Taanayel, Al Marj and Bar Elias. Jasim Al Tunaijai, Director of ERC Projects in Lebanon, said the agency is implementing its humanitarian operation in Lebanon in coordination with U.A.E. Embassy in Beirut and the local Lebanese authorities to help Syrian refugee as well as the people displaced from Arsal by the sad developments which affected thousands of families, women and children in particular. Al Tunaiji added that ERC, in coordination with the Lebanese government, will assess the needs of the residents of Arsal, and will send relief aid into the town. Last Thursday, ERC said it is implementing a three-stage emergency plan for distributing relief aid to the displaced in the Lebanese town. The plan was in response to the directives given by H.H. Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Ruler's Representative in the Western Region and President of ERC to allocate Dh5 million for emergency aid to the refugees. – Emirates News Agency, WAM – http://www.wam.ae/en/news/emirates-arab/1395268533345.html