Charity feeding 1,000 families fleeing conflict
Irish group’s help in Lebanon
IRISH taxpayers are helping to feed thousands of desperate refugees in war-torn southern Lebanon every day.
Irish charity Concern Worldwide has teamed up with Nusaned to provide meals for up to 1,000 families who have had to flee their homes because of the outbreak of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah on the southern border.
Concern Worldwide has set up a special feeding site in Tyre, a major city in southern Lebanon – and just 20km from the Irish Defence Forces’ area of operations on the border.
They have some 353 soldiers serving along the frontier with the United Nations UNIFIL mission – who are risking their lives every day to protect innocent civilians caught up in the conflict.
But the Irish charity is also active in the area – and its operation is providing vital meals every day for desperate refugees.
They have partnered with local charity Nusaned using Irish government donations to feed up to 1,000 families.
The civilians are sheltering in four schools and a university in the ancient coastal town of Tyre.
Their towns came under fire when Israel and Hezbollah began trading blows along the border in the wake of the Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7 that left 1,200 men, women and children dead.
Israel attacked Gaza the following day in a war that has seen at least 25,000 people killed – but the Jewish state is also attacking Lebanon on its northern border in a face-off with Hezbollah.
Many of the attacks are in the Irish UN area of operations and thousands of people have left that zone – and headed to the relative safety of Tyre.
Concern’s Country Director in Lebanon, Sherzada Khan, said: “In response to the recent shelling in south Lebanon, we launched a critical emergency response in Tyre.
“Around 80,000 people, forced to flee their homes due to ongoing conflict, now find themselves displaced and living in shelters without access to basic necessities.
“With Irish Aid funding, we are addressing the pressing needs of internally displaced people, including many children and elderly people.”
The Concern workers are providing displaced families with three meals a day in addition to other needs like clean drinking water, mattresses, pillows, blankets and nappies.
Lebanese families are receiving the meals in school classrooms where they sleep each night as they shelter from conflict.
They said their hope is for peace and yearn to be able to return to their homes.
Hussein Ali Ez Al Deen, 42, who fled from his hometown on the border with Israel with his wife and three children, said everyone was grateful to the Irish people for their help.
He said: “We can’t thank you enough for this act of help and I hope that the war ends so we can go back to our home.”
Nusaned said the project they run delivers sandwiches, burgers and other meals each day using their food truck to the school buildings where the displaced people are staying.
Each classroom accommodates two families, separated by room dividers.
Concern, which has worked in Lebanon since 2013, is simultaneously responding to the needs of Lebanese, Syrian, and Palestinian people living in the north of the country where temperatures plummet at this time of year.
Lebanon has been host to Palestinian refugees since 1948, with an estimated 250,000 Palestinian migrants currently living in Lebanon. A further 1.5million Syrian refugees are also living in Lebanon, a country the size of Munster with a population of 5.2m. This makes it the world’s biggest host of refugees per capita. ■ To find out more about Concern Worldwide’s work visit www. concern.net.