Interior Ministry: Slovakia Provided Humanitarian Aid to Lebanon

Bratislava, October 4 (TASR) - Slovakia has provided medical supplies to the Lebanese Health Ministry. The Interior Ministry's Crisis Management Section earmarked for Lebanon 120,000 injection needles and 120,000 syringes from its stocks that it received from the Health Ministry. Slovakia did so based on the official request of the Lebanese government through the EU Civil Protection Mechanism (EUCPM), the Interior Ministry's press department has informed TASR. The headquarters of the Slovak Army's ecumenical pastoral service donated first aid kits and powdered milk. Part of the humanitarian aid is going to Beirut based on a bilateral request. According to the Interior Ministry, repatriation of citizens by civilian aircraft directly from Lebanon would not be possible from a security viewpoint. Therefore, the Interior Ministry's aviation division will carry out repatriations from Cyprus. The air evacuation module Euracare Flight & Shelter has been activated in this context. Other EUCPM member states, such as the Czech Republic, Hungary and Croatia, will make use of the Slovak module as well. The ministry's squadron will make three flights in total on Saturday (October 5). "The situation in the Middle East is getting unpredictable in many ways. Since it's our job to take care of the safety of our citizens and the citizens of the EU, we are doing our best to ensure that these persons are evacuated home as quickly as possible. The Euracare Flight & Shelter air evacuation module is designed precisely for these situations," stressed Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok (Voice-SD). Seventy-five percent of the costs of flights during the activated Euracare Flight & Shelter air evacuation module are covered from EU money. The Slovak module is one of two EUCPM certified evacuation teams. ko/mcs