Lebanon renews call for international help in hosting Syrian refugees

Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati on Friday renewed his call upon the international community to help his country to cope with the huge influx of the Syrian refugees. "The international community must assume its responsibilities towards Lebanon because it is suffering more than any other neighbors from the flow of Syrian refugees," Miqati said. The prime minister made the appeal in a statement after meeting the head of the United States Agency for International Development, Rajiv Shah, where he relay to the U.S. administration the repercussions of influx of the Syrian refugees are having on Lebanon. U.S. ambassador to Lebanon David Hale, who attended the meeting, said in a statement: "President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry have ordered that the U.S. exert the greatest efforts to support the Lebanese people and those of the region in confronting the repercussions of the developments in Syria." According to the latest United Nations Higher Council for refugees, there are over 812,000 Syrian refugees in Lebanon. Lebanon has called on the international community multiple times to fulfill their obligations and pledges made during the an international donor conference held in Kuwait in January 2013.