The practical stage of the Lebanese government’s social aid plan has begun. On the morning of Thursday, April 16th, the Lebanese Army started distributing financial aid in different areas across Lebanon.
In coordination with municipal authorities, army personnel handed financial support, which is a sum of 400,000 LBP per individual, to people who were previously selected for it based on their critical financial situation.
As explained by the Lebanese Army’s official statement, the first stage of this aid plan targets victims of landmine explosions.
This includes citizens who have been injured by such explosions since 1975, as well as the families of those who were killed by them since then. These people were identified using data provided by the Lebanese Mine Action Center (LMAC).
On average, 1 in 5 people in Lebanon is directly affected by landmine explosions, according to the Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor.
The hundreds of thousands of undetonated mines and cluster bombs, currently contaminating numerous Lebanese areas, have resulted from the many conflicts that Lebanon has been involved in since the 1975 civil war.
On Thursday, the Lebanese Army targeted 11 areas across the country for its first stage of aid distribution. This comes about 3 weeks after the cabinet approved 75 billion Lebanese pounds for families in need.
The plan aims to help citizens who have been the most negatively affected by the general mobilization, which the government imposed back in March in response to the COVID-19 outbreak.
The current economic situation of Lebanon, which was further worsened by the pandemic, has resulted in an increase in theft rates, according to the Minister of Interior and Municipalities.
It was only yesterday, for instance, that security forces arrested a school teacher who had joined an auto theft gang.
The general mobilization is scheduled to end 10 days from now, on April 26th, unless the government decides to extend it again as it has done twice since March.
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