Jordan Times
Sunday, August 13, 2006
Aid to Lebanon Continues
AMMAN (Petra) — The humanitarian Amman-Beirut air bridge remained in operation over the weekend as seven planes loaded with relief assistance unloaded cargo in Lebanon.
Jordan launched the effort in late July as Lebanon was declared a catastrophe zone due to Israeli aggression on the country and its civilian infrastructure.
A Jordanian plane laden with South African relief and two UAE planes on a similar mission landed in Beirut on Saturday.
A day earlier, another two UAE and two Jordanian military aid planes carrying relief cargo from the UN and South Africa touched down in the airport.
Jordan has so far dispatched a total of 34 planes with an average of 2-4 flights per day.
The aid is customarily handed over to the Higher Relief Committee in Lebanon to be distributed to the displaced Lebanese, Mohammed Fayez, Jordan charge d’affaires there said. He added that the assistance consists of medications, baby food and other relief items.
Meanwhile, the Jordanian field hospital located in the Fardan neighbourhood in central Beirut had by Saturday treated 8,284 cases, Colonel Murtada Majali, the hospital’s commander, said.
On Saturday, Palestine Liberation Organisation’s Representative in Lebanon Abbas Zaki visited the facility and voiced appreciation for Jordan’s people and government.
Jordanian civil society institutions continued their campaigns to aid the Lebanese. On Saturday, Tkiyet Um Ali handed over to the Jordan Hashemite Charity Organisation 40 tonnes of food donated by school and college students as well as Tkiyet Um Ali employees.
In another form of support to Lebanon, a delegation of women’s groups and associations left Amman for Beirut through Damascus. The delegation will visit the displaced Lebanese in Syria and Lebanon and meet with Lebanese civil society institutions and a number of officials, Emily Naffaa, a member of the delegation and chairperson of Women’s Rights Association said.
Representatives of Jordanian artists, already in Beirut, also expressed their solidarity with the Lebanese people. Shahir Hadid, head of the Jordan’s Artists Association on Friday and his Lebanese counterpart Ihsan Sadeq spoke to reporters at Beirut airport to voice support for and sympathy with Lebanon.