Lebanon appeals for 2.68 bln USD in donations to cope with Syrian refugee crisis

BEIRUT, Feb. 1 (Xinhua) -- Lebanon said Thursday that it needs 2.68 billion U.S. dollars in donations to provide humanitarian aid to the Syrian refugees in the country.

The appeal for donations came as Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, together with UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Philippe Lazzarini, launched the 2018 update of the Lebanon Crisis Response Plan (LCRP) 2017-2020, the prime minister's media office said.

The plan focuses on providing integrated and innovative humanitarian assistance and stabilization intervention, Lazarini said in a speech.

The Syria civil war, which has entered its eighth year, continues to have "a profound humanitarian, socio-economic, security and political impact" on Lebanon and its people with unprecedented strain on the country's infrastructure and public services, he added.

In 2017, the LCRP received more than 1 billion dollars of donations, making it the second-best funded response plan in the world, according to the UN official.

However, he warned of "growing needs and deepening vulnerabilities across the country" as a result of increased humanitarian and development needs, in addition to the tensions between host communities and refugees.

As of October 2016, Lebanon hosted 1.5 million Syrian refugees, half of them are children below 18 years old, along with 31,502 Palestinian refugees from Syria. Enditem