UAE national airline Etihad said it has joined forces with the UAE Red Crescent Authority to provide humanitarian support to Syrian refugees in Jordan.

Volunteers from Etihad and the UAE Red Crescent recently visited the Emirati Jordanian field hospital in Al Mafraq and the Muraijeb-Al-Fhood camp to distribute basic humanitarian relief to them.

The United Nations (UN) released information this week confirming that Syrian refugee numbers now exceed two million, more than half of whom are children. More than 5,000 refugees continue to leave Syria every day.

Etihad and the UAE Red Crescent Authority have been actively involved in supporting the affected Syrian population since the outbreak of the unrest, said a statement from the Emirati carrier.

Their combined efforts in reaching people inside and outside Syria have played an essential role in providing humanitarian assistance from the UAE to the Syrian people, it stated.

President and CEO James Hogan said: “Etihad is very pleased to be able to offer logistics assistance in support of the significant humanitarian aid provided by the UAE government. I am especially proud of our staff both from the UAE and Jordan who have committed their time to provide on-going help to alleviate the stress and suffering in this crisis.”

This joint initiative builds on the work of previous humanitarian missions to distribute relief goods and more than 50,000 airline blankets to refugees in the Al Zaatari camp where volunteers provided hands-on support and made a real positive difference to the lives of the refugees, he added.-TradeArabia News Service