Qatar launches aid airlift to Lebanon amid Israeli onslaught

By Wassim Saifedine

BEIRUT (AA) – Qatar launched an airlift between Doha and Beirut on Tuesday to provide humanitarian aid to Lebanon amid relentless Israeli attacks.

Minister of State for International Cooperation Lolwah Al-Khater said 10 C-17 planes loaded with medical supplies, shelter materials, and food will be sent to Lebanon throughout October.

“In terms of Qatar's support for the Lebanese Republic, this support is longstanding and ongoing,” the diplomat said during a meeting with Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati in Beirut.

“It is support for Lebanon's national institutions and the Lebanese Armed Forces, which play a local role in this context, as well as support for the health sector and humanitarian relief,” she added.

Khater reaffirmed Qatar's "firm and steadfast position regarding Lebanon, its sovereignty, and its right to maintain its security and stability and the safety of its citizens."

Israel has mounted massive airstrikes across Lebanon against what it claims Hezbollah targets since Sept. 23, killing more than 1,250 people, injuring 3,618 others, and displacing more than 1.2 million people.

The aerial campaign was an escalation in yearlong cross-border warfare between Israel and Hezbollah since the start of Tel Aviv’s brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip that has killed nearly 42,000 people, mostly women and children, since a Hamas attack last year.

At least 2,083 people have since been killed and 9,869 others injured in Israeli attacks in Lebanon, according to Lebanese authorities.

Despite international warnings that the Middle East region was on the brink of a regional war amid Israel’s relentless attacks on Gaza and Lebanon, Tel Aviv expanded the conflict by launching on Oct. 1 a ground invasion into southern Lebanon.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala