UAE aid flown to Syrian refugees

Dubai: Just hours after a snowstorm hit parts of the Middle East, a private plane loaded with thermal blankets for thousands of Syrian refugees landed in Amman, Jordan, early yesterday, in line with His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai’s initiative to help Syrian refugees.

The Boeing 747 is the first in the UAE’s airbridge initiative to help hundreds of thousands of refugees in Jordan. The campaign is expected to later cover refugees in Lebanon, Iraq, West Bank and the Gaza Strip, according to Shaima Al Zarouni, CEO of International Humanitarian City.    

“The plane landed at 3.45am [5.45am Dubai time] in Amman carrying nearly 30,000 high thermal blankets,” said Nada Yassin, external relations associate at the United Nations Higher Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Distribution of relief material started a few hours later in the Azraq camp for Syrian refugees located nearly 120km east of Amman, Nada told Gulf News.

A second private jet is scheduled to arrive in Jordan today carrying some 70,000 high thermal and medium thermal blankets to be distributed to refugees in both Al Zaatari camp and to those refugees living outside the camps in urban areas, the UN official said.

“The main challenge we’re facing is the weather conditions. Because we have confirmed that two flights will go out tomorrow. But if the storm gets worse, we will not be able to fly. But even if it actually lands in the military airport over there, some of the challenges will be moving the trucks across the area,” Shaima told Gulf News.

There are nearly 11,163 Syrian refugees at the Azraq camp, according to UN figures on January 5. Jordan hosts nearly 620,000 registered Syrian refugees, while there are some 1.1 million registered in Lebanon.   There are also 1.65 million in Turkey, 228,000 in Iraq, and 137,000 Syrian refugees in Egypt.

Apart from the material aid, many registered Syrian refugees are getting an increase in the monthly financial aid distributed to them by the UNHCR. Nearly 21,000 Syrian households receive 340 Jordanian dinars (Dh1,760) in winter up from 120 dinars in other seasons, said Nada.

However, there are some 9,000 families who need the assistance but don’t get it because of lack of available funds.    

“Two-thirds of the [registered] Syrian refugees in Jordan are under the poverty line, which is 68 Jordanian dinars a month [Dh352],” she added. 

— With inputs from Janice Ponce de Leon, Staff Reporter

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