By IANS/RIA Novosti,
Beirut: A Russian emergencies ministry plane carrying 26.7 tonnes of humanitarian aid for Syrian refugees in Lebanon has reached Beirut.
According to the Lebanese Disasters Emergency Committee, there are over 400,000 Syrian refugees in the country.
If Syrian guest workers are included in that figure, it could be as high as one million in a country that has a population of four million.
The committee will distribute the aid among the Syrian refugees.
The next Russian aid delivery is due to arrive in Lebanon April 10. A total of four Russian planes with humanitarian aid are to be sent to the country.
Lebanese President Michel Suleiman said in January that his small country’s capabilities had been exhausted, but that Syrian refugees kept on coming.
He called on other Arab states to help not only financially, but also to give shelter to those fleeing the ongoing conflict in Syria.
About 70,000 people have died in Syria since the start of the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad in March 2011, according to UN figures.