The first UN convoy with food and medicine left Beirut today for Tyre, a hard-hit port city in southern Lebanon, a UN agency said.
The 10-truck convoy was carrying 90 metric tons of wheat flour along with medicine and other supplies donated by the Lebanese government and several UN aid agencies, said the Rome-based World Food Programme.
“While thousands have fled Tyre, tens of thousands still remain stranded with no fuel for their cars, no money for skyrocketing taxi fares and dwindling supplies of food. They have no assurances that they can safely leave. We have to assist these people before their situation deteriorates even further,” said Amer Daoudi, emergency co-ordinator for the WFP operation in Lebanon.
“We have been promised safe passage and we trust that all parties will abide by this pledge. This convoy is a crucial opening of a land corridor, with more convoys to follow in the coming days,” said Daoudi.
The United Nations says more than a half million people have been displaced by the conflict.