The Emirates Red Crescent’s (ERC’s) team at Mrajeeb Al Fhood camp in Jordan began distributing winter relief aid and food stuff to refugees on Wednesday as part of a massive UAE humanitarian mission to keep refugees warm and fed during the harsh winter. The Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation also distributed relief supplies in camps in Lebanon.

The gesture came in implementation of the directives of the President, His Highness Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, to launch a humanitarian “air bridge”, reaching across the refugees, providing them relief from the harsh winter conditions caused by snowstorm Huda currently hitting the Levant.

Two plane loads, part of many others to follow, were sent as a tranche in this humanitarian drive. The planes, carrying aid to mitigate the harsh impact of winter, were meant for refugees and other affected people in Jordan.

The International Humanitarian City (IHC) is working to provide fuel and heating materials to 2,000 affected families, in addition to food supplies to meet the needs of 35,000 people.

Various UAE organisations and government and societal departments are continuing with their humanitarian initiatives, launched on Tuesday under the direction of His Highness Shaikh Khalifa, and under the patronage of His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. All such initiatives are aimed to aid one million refugees and relieve them of their suffering as a result of the harsh winter conditions caused by snowstorm Huda currently hitting the Levant.

The Emirati aid reached the areas affected by the snowstorm on Wednesday, before even the arrival of the snow storm in that area. The UAE humanitarian organisations were one of the first ones to implement humanitarian assistance within 12 hours of the launch of this campaign.

The first of the many planes in this humanitarian drive, departing from the International Humanitarian City in Dubai on Wednesday, landed in Jordan in the early morning.

In Iraqi Kurdistan region, the Emirati aid distribution team began distributing the relief supplies under the supervision of the UAE Consulate General in Erbil region.

The ERC, under the supervision of the UAE Consulate General in Erbil, is implementing the ‘UAE Compassion’ campaign to assist the refugees.

The ERC has kept ready winter clothing and blankets, produced by the ERC Tailoring Workers at refugee camps, as well as beds and heaters to be distributed to families in the camps, which accommodate over 250,000 refugees.

The campaign will kick off in Gaza and the Western Region in Palestine today by distributing packages of foodstuffs, blankets and heating equipment which were purchased from the Palestine markets and Egypt.

Saeed Al Mazrouei, acting deputy secretary-general for International Aid at the ERC, said the total value of assistance meant for Gaza and Ramallah stood at Dh2 million in its first phase, and the Red Crescent office in Gaza and Ramallah will distribute the aid to those targeted by the campaign.

A delegation led by Dr Hamdan Musallam Al Mazrouei, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the ERC, will arrive in Jordan today to oversee the campaign in the kingdom.