The Order of Malta's aid agency Malteser International has now arrived by French Naval frigate to support the Lebanese Association which has been operating ten health centres throughout . One has been bombed and destroyed. The other nine are working around the clock to help the wounded, the homeless and the terrified. The conditions are severe: there is a shortage of water, of temporary housing and of milk for babies. Stocks of medicines are running low; currently there is enough for just one more month. The Order is concentrating on health care, but in the area around Roum/Jezzine they are currently looking after over 1,000 homeless refugees too.

They urgently need US $100,000 to cover the unforeseen needs of the coming month. They need to buy locally as all main transport routes are either unusable or unsafe.

The funds are needed to buy medical supplies, hygiene products such as chlorine, and to cover the cost of setting up health centres in the displaced persons centres.

The Order also continues to support its Holy Family Maternity Hospital in Bethlehem. The only maternity hospital in the region and 39,000 babies have been born there over the last decade.

The Order of Malta, the world's oldest Christian charity, has been helping the poor and the sick since the eleventh century, without regard to race, religion, origin or age. Its worldwide network of organisations is dedicated to humanitarian assistance.