Lebanon offers aid to Turkey, Syria after quake
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati asked Monday caretaker ministers Nasser Yassin and Ali Hamieh to contact the Turkish and Syrian authorities in order to provide emergency aid after the powerful 7.8 magnitude earthquake that rocked southeastern Turkey and northern Syria early Monday.
Mikati said, before a cabinet session, that Lebanon might send a rescue force from the army and the civil defense to Turkey to provide emergency relief to the populations on the ground.
Later in the day, the Lebanese Army announced that it will dispatch 20 soldiers from the Engineering Regiment to Turkey to help in the search and rescue efforts.
The 7.8-magnitude quake struck early on Monday near the Turkish city of Gaziantep, which is home to around two million people and on the border with Syria.
Hamieh will tell the Syrian authorities that Lebanon is ready to help neighboring Syria as well, where at least 783 people were killed.
Source: Naharnet
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