Minister of Social Affairs Rashid Derbas voiced apprehension on Saturday that international aid to Syrian refugees in Lebanon could dwindle down further after reports showed that it did, an Nahar daily reported.
“International aid to Syrian refugees has dwindled from 53% in 2013 to 40% at present. I fear that it could decrease further,” dreaded Derbas.
He said that “the decrease in aid could also mean leaving Lebanon to stand alone and face the task of providing the relief.”
Derbas revealed a decision implemented by the World Food Program “lowering the value of the monthly electronic coupon allocated to each of the refugees from $30 to $20 starting in October.”
The minister stated that he will discuss this thorny file during his expected visit to Kuwait and the UAE in October.
He pointed to a special cabinet session that will be held to determine the formal framework to address the refugees file in light of an unnamed politician’s refusal to establish refugee encampments on Lebanese-Syrian borders.
Derbas had revealed earlier that the government approved a decision to establish encampments for Syrian refugees for the first time along its border with war-torn Syria.
There are already more than 1.1 million Syrian refugees in Lebanon, which has a population of just four million people.
Many are already living in informal tented settlements on farmland or empty fields in parts of the country.
The refugee influx has put massive pressure on the country's limited resources and contributed to rising tensions in a nation with a delicate sectarian balance and bitter memories from a 15-year civil war.
The conflict in Syria has regularly spilled over into Lebanon, with the border region often particularly volatile.
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