UAE Offers $1.5 Million Aid to Arsal Displaced

The United Arab Emirates on Wednesday offered around USD 1.5 million dollars in “immediate” aid to residents who were forced to leave the battle-hit Bekaa region of Arsal.

“Chairman of the (Emirati) Red Crescent Authority Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed ordered allocating 5 million dirhams to rescue the displaced in Arsal as a result of the region's latest developments,” UAE's news agency WAM reported on Wednesday.

"The migration of large numbers of Arsal's residents has doubled the need to provide aid for these people, in addition to the burden of around 120,000 Syrian refugees present there,” bin Zayed explained.

He continued: “The Red Crescent has been providing food and shelter aid since the refugees' arrival in Lebanon, and this required sympathizing with the crisis of the displaced and hurrying up in providing urgent assistance for them.”

The fighting in Arsal erupted on Saturday after soldiers arrested a man accused of belonging to al-Qaida's Syrian affiliate, Al-Nusra Front.

At least 17 soldiers have been killed in the Arsal fighting, including two officers, according to security sources, and the army said 22 troops are missing, possibly taken hostage.

Another 20 policemen are also missing, security sources say, and 86 soldiers have been wounded.

S.D.B.