By Mohamed Ali Akman
BEIRUT (AA) - Some $1.68 billion was disbursed last year by UN and non-governmental organizations to help Syrian refugees in Lebanon, a UN official said Monday.
In a statement, however, Philippe Lazzarini, the deputy UN special coordinator for Lebanon, said the disbursements only covered roughly 45 percent of refugees’ needs.
According to Lazzarini, 1.3 million refugees in Lebanon received potable water in 2017, while 870,000 received food aid thanks to aid provided by UN and non-government agencies.
Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri, for his part, recently called on the international community to shoulder its responsibility for refugees now staying in Lebanon, which currently hosts roughly 998,000 Syrian refugees.