US boat brings aid for Lebanon war displaced

Beirut, July 29: A US boat carrying the first American aid delivered to Lebanon by sea arrived in Beirut today with supplies for people displaced by fighting.

The HSV Swift, a high-speed military catamaran, brought in 20,000 blankets, 2,000 tarpaulins and seven one-tonne medical kits which can support 10,000 people for three months.

The supplies were destined for the Chouf mountains southeast of Beirut where 1,00,000 people have taken refugee from Israel's bombardment of Hizbollah guerrillas in southern Lebanon.

Three US medical kits were ferried in earlier in the week by helicopter.

''These blankets are very important, as are the tarps, especially looking ahead in a few weeks because it's very cold in the mountain areas, and the people may be there for some time,'' David Holdridge, emergency coordinator in Lebanon for Mercy Corps, a US relief agency.

The 18-day-old war has forced about 7,50,000 people to flee their homes in Lebanon, where at least 462 people have been killed. Others remain trapped in southern border villages.

UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland has asked for a 72-hour truce to enable relief workers to evacuate elderly, young and wounded people from the south and to deliver aid.

''There is something fundamentally wrong with a war where there are more dead children than armed men,'' he said yesterday.

Reuters