King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz, of Saudi Arabia, has ordered 500 tons of wheat to be sent to Syrian refugees in Zaatari camp in Jordan, Al Arabiya TV reported Sunday.
Three hundred trucks loaded with wheat headed to the refugee camp, said Badr al-Samhan, regional manager of the Saudi national campaign for the Syrian people.
Samhan said the Saudi embassy in Jordan has begun an emergency meeting to “study” ways to distribute the wheat.
Saudi Interior Minister Prince Mohammed Bin Nayif also ordered 2,000 additional tents for Zaatari refugees after terrible floods ruined some tents in the refugee camp.
After a U.N. appeal for more assistance to Syrian refugees, Saudi Arabia decided to boost its humanitarian assistance to the 30,000 Syrians refugees in Zaatari who are battling mud and sub-zero temperatures.
Previously, Saudi distributed about 10,000 food baskets as well as 700 heaters. On Friday, King Abdullah ordered $10 million for Syrian refugees in Jordan.
Freezing temperatures and floods last week have claimed at least 11 lives across the region and exacerbated the plight of hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees huddled in tented camps in Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon.
More than 600,000 Syrian refugees have fled to neighboring countries were exposed to the storm. Many in Lebanon and Jordan were forced to move after their tents were flooded.
Meanwhile, in addition to the Saudi assistance offered to refugees in Jordan, Samhan said that “there are also 10 helicopters heading to help Syrian refugees in Turkey.”
Lebanese ambassador in Cairo, Khaled Ziyada, said the suggested budget by the Arab League to help Syrian refugees totaled to $180 million.
Ziyada’s announcement came after the Arab League held an emergency meeting in Cairo on Sunday to discuss plight of Syrian refugees.
Al Arabiya
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.