NNA - Caretaker Minister of Public Works and Transport, Ali Hamieh, held a meeting with the Lebanese rescue team that will head to Syria today, at the Fire Department in Karantina.

Hamieh gave the necessary instructions to the team who will help in the search and rescue operations following the deadly earthquake that hit the neighboring nation yesterday.

"The mission has been formed by the Higher Defense Council, and it comprises members of the army, the Civil Defense, the Beirut Fire Brigade, the Lebanese Red Cross and the Crisis Management Committee," said Hamieh.

"Syria is a brotherly country," he stressed. ""It is our duty to stand by its side despite the critical economic conditions we are going through," he added.

"We have decided to open our aerial and maritime utilities to the transport companies carrying humanitarian aid to Syria and to exempt them from the airport and seaport passage fees," he announced.

=============R.A.H.