Higher Relief Commission Daily Situation Report Sit rep No: 71 Date: 11/10/2006 Lebanon under siege http://www.lebanonundersiege.gov.lb offers up-to-date information on relief efforts and diplomatic initiatives. The site lists locations of shelter and Aid distribution, along with a tally of damage, casualties and official statements. Significantly, the site is available in three languages. This site is the official Lebanese government source of information. 1-General situation. • Prime Minister Fouad Siniora met Tuesday with the Parliament speaker and the Saudi ambassador to Lebanon in an effort to ease tension among Lebanese politicians. Premier Fouad Siniora visited Speaker Nabih Berri Tuesday to discuss the outcome of the latter's visit to Saudi Arabia, as well as other national issues, according to Berri's spokesperson. The Premier’s spokesperson said that a "positive atmosphere" prevailed during their talks. The Prime Minister also met Tuesday with Saudi Ambassador Abdel-Aziz Khoja, with whom he discussed the outcome of Berri's visit to the kingdom. A statement issued by the premier's office said that the talks focused on means to "resolve local pending problems through constructive dialogue," among other issues. The Prime Minister held separate talks Tuesday with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's representative to Lebanon, Geir Pedersen, before meeting with the new Italian ambassador, Gabriele Checchia. • Italian Premier Romano Prodi, whose country is the leading contributor to a U.N. peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, arrived in Beirut late Tuesday. He was greeted at Rafik Hariri International airport by Prime Minister Fouad Saniora and Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh. Mr. Prodi will hold talks Wednesday with Prime Minister Fouad Saniora and Speaker Nabih Berri before heading to south Lebanon to inspect Italian troops serving with the U.N. peacekeeping force. In a message addressed to the Lebanese people the Italian Prime Minister said. “I have come here to Beirut today to confirm Italy's staunch support for Lebanon and for the government of Prime Minister Siniora. Italy's primary aim is to help Lebanon rebuild and consolidate its democratic institutions. This is a commitment that I have taken upon myself, and which I wish to carry forward jointly with Prime Minister Siniora - with whom we have very close ties of cooperation, shored up by the deep friendship that has always existed between our two great countries, Lebanon and Italy. The Italian government recently appropriated a further 30 million euros ($37 million) in assistance. Italian companies will be dedicating their efforts to rebuilding Lebanon's roads and bridges, and our experts are already working side-by-side with their Lebanese colleagues on the environmental reclamation of the Lebanese coast. Other forms of cooperation will help revive agriculture and assist the Lebanese security forces in taking on their new responsibilities across the whole country. Italy is committed to Lebanon by deploying the largest military contingent to the UNIFIL mission. It is my hope that with the help of Italy, the European Union, the United Nations and the international community, Lebanon will now rapidly embark on her reconstruction, and rediscover the values and benefits of dialogue, understanding and coexistence. And once again stand as a model of peace, democracy, freedom and development for all,” Prime Minister Romani Prodi said addressing the Lebanese People. • The Lebanese Army has confiscated weapons belonging to Hezbollah in South Lebanon, Lebanese Defense Minister Elias Murr said on Tuesday. Speaking to reporters after a meeting with Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Butros Sfeir in Bkirki, Murr said: "There were reports in the media about the confiscation of weapons ... Those reports were true." "We are carrying out our role as we should. It is our duty to confiscate any apparent weapons," he told reporters. "The army has two roles: defending the borders and depriving the enemy from any justification to return to South Lebanon," he said. "What we can confirm is that the resistance is cooperating by preventing any armed presence." "In three or six months the army will be fully equipped," Murr said, adding that the number of soldiers had increased to 60,000 after the latest crisis. Murr's announcement came as UN peacekeeping spokesman Alexander Ivanko said Tuesday that a meeting between officers from the Lebanese and Israeli armies would take place in Ras Naqoura by the end of this week. According to Ivanko, the meeting will focus on proposals made by the UN to settle the issue of Israel's occupation of the border village of Ghajar. Meanwhile, as international troops continue to flow into the South, a contingent of Turkish peacekeepers arrived in Lebanon Monday. A Turkish military plane arrived at Beirut's airport with two vehicles and seven officers on board, part of a 270-man engineering corps to be deployed near the Southern port city of Tyre to help rebuild bridges and roads damaged in the war. Indonesia will delay its deployment of peacekeeping troops to Lebanon by one week for logistical reasons, a military spokesman said Tuesday. In a related development, the Indonesian government on Tuesday inked a deal worth around $31 million with Renault Trucks of France to purchase 32 French-made armored personnel carriers and ambulances to be used in Lebanon. • Over a quarter of Lebanon's 410 health facilities were completely destroyed during this summer's Israeli war on Lebanon, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced on Tuesday. Another 6 percent were partially damaged while 51 percent of health facilities escaped the war unharmed, the organization said. WHO representative Alissar Rady said at a news conference at the UN House in Beirut on Tuesday that the organization had begun to rehabilitate 12 of the destroyed facilities. As part of the next phase of its relief work in Lebanon, WHO is seeking to purchase 44,000 rapid water-testing kits to distribute to municipalities, the organization said. The WHO already has overseen training to operate two water purification units, donated by the Canadian government, in public hospitals in Nabatiyeh and Tyre, officials said. Additionally, the organization has provided five tons of chlorine to disinfect water in areas currently lacking treatment plants. During the 34-day war with Israel, the organization provided emergency medical supplies to areas that were hardest-hit during the war, and distributed 22 tons of chronic and acute medications throughout Lebanon and 66 tons of fuel to hospitals to meet shortages in Tyre, Sidon and Nabatiyeh. Tuesday's press conference coincided with World Mental Health Day 2006, an occasion meant to build awareness and reduce the risk of mental illness and suicide. • The Higher Relief Commission has distributed Tuesday 28,500 food baskets in Akar, Tripoli, Bedawi, Sidon and Beirut , total of 854,823 food baskets have being distributed by the Higher relief commission to war affected areas since 12 July 2006. • The Higher Relief Commission announced that the checks of the first payment for war victims are now ready; List of names of beneficiaries is available on the website. • The Russian military has started the construction of Ain-Arab Bridge, Russian’s soldiers have surveyed the area and insured that its clear from land mines, heavy machineries and equipments have being deployed to the area in preparation to start the construction process, the bridge is 65 meters length and 4.5 meters width. • The United Arab Emirates (UAE) Red Crescent donated a generator on Tuesday to Al- Rahman Mosque in Bshamoun, near Beirut, as part of the UAE project to support and rebuild Lebanon. The UAE Red Crescent has also started last week to distribute humanitarian aid to war-stricken villages in the South. • Lebanon’s air carrier, Middle East Airlines (MEA), has reduced its profit forecast by 82 percent to $10 million due to the recent Israeli bombardment of Lebanon, its chairman said on Tuesday. Mohammad el-hout said that the conflict had erupted during the airline’s most lucrative season. “Total losses were $45 million”, he said. • The National Audiovisual Media Council held a meeting on Tuesday to discuss the losses incurred by audiovisual media outlets during the recent war with Israel. In a statement issued after the meeting, the council said losses sustained by Hezbollah’s Al- Manar television amounted to approximately $16 million; LBC lost more than $5 million and Future TV over $3 million, in addition to a contract worth $54 million. The losses inflicted on New TV totaled more than $2.5 million and those of Voice of Lebanon radio reached $300,000. The council said it would soon hold a meeting for audiovisual media outlets in the presence of Information Minister Ghazi Aridi to discuss compensation. • Cooperative Housing Foundation International, in collaboration with the René Moawad Foundation (RMF) is implementing the ‘Enhancing the Olive Oil Sector’ project, under the CEDARS plus Program. The project will improve linkages between and among olive producers and processors to improve the quality and quantity of olive and olive oil (increase yields and improve processing efficiencies), thus, expanding markets opportunities. CHF and RMF are working directly with agricultural cooperatives, farmers and traders throughout Lebanon to promote the production and marketing of olive oil to meet the international standards and the increasing demands of international markets, as well as to promote market diversification by targeting high-valued niches. Casualties: The Cumulative figures of casualties are showing hereinafter. Estimated No. of Death: 1,191 Estimated No. of Injured: 4,407 3-Displaced Population: The overall estimated figures of displaced population in Lebanon are shown here bellow. Displaced Other Information Unallocated (Estimated) 200,000 Sheltered with host families, friend etc. 4- Food and non-food items distributed by the higher relief commission. The cumulative figures of distributed aids by the higher relief commission described herein after.