UN stresses need to support Lebanon to cope with Syrian refugees

The visiting United Nations Secretary-General's Envoy for Humanitarian Affairs Abdullah Maatouq on Tuesday stressed the importance of supporting Lebanon to cope with more than 1.3 million Syrian refugees, the National News Agency (NNA) reported.

"The presence of this high number of refugees affects the infrastructure of the country and its services," Maatouq said.

"We are here to help the Lebanese who are facing huge difficulties in hosting the refugees as we know the limited resources of Lebanon," the envoy added.

Accompanied by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres, Maatouq made the remarks following meeting with Speaker Nabih Berri in the presence of UN Special Coordinator in Lebanon Sigrid Kaag, UNHCR Representative in Lebanon Ninat Kelly, and Humanitarian Affairs Coordinator Ross Mountain.

Maatouq thanked Lebanon and its people "for the great efforts they are making to support their Syrian brothers."

For his part, Guterres said that the trip to Lebanon is "a visit of solidarity with the government and the Lebanese people", calling on the international community to "make a strong commitment to achieve peace."

Lebanon was being affected by the influx of the Syrian refugees and the Lebanese government estimates its direct economic losses to be around three billion U.S. dollars.

The third donor's conference held in Kuwait last March pledged the amount of 3.8 billion dollars to support the Syrian refugees and the hosting countries. Endit