UN Announces End of Humanitarian Crisis in Lebanon

The United Nations declared Thursday that the humanitarian crisis in Lebanon brought on by the Israeli-Hezbollah war has finally come to an end. The world body coupled the announcement with a planned shift in resources away from aid work to rebuilding the devastated areas of the country.

October 24 has been pencilled in for the official pull out of UN aid teams - just over two months after the UN brokered a truce between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah to bring the month-long conflict to an end.

The bulk of the UN's resources, both monetary and in kind, will now be channelled into the Lebanese government's recovery programmes, which include the vital reconstruction of water storage tanks, water lines and pumping stations, reports Reuters.

The new phase of recovery in Lebanon will be overseen by the UN Development Programme, the UN office said.

The largest threat to civilians in South Lebanon remains the up to one million unexploded cluster bomblets dropped by Israel that remain hidden in streets, homes and orchards.

The UN added that some 40,000 cluster bombs and other unexploded shells had already been cleared from 592 sites identified by UN mine removal teams.

But UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland previously estimated that it could take between one year and 15 months for the more than 350 Lebanese Army personnel and 200 contractors and UN troops to clear the region of cluster bombs completely.

Returning residents also face further difficulties as they return to areas largely devastated and ridden with medical and industrial waste. Teams of environmental experts are due to visit the country in the coming weeks to monitor the hazards, which also include waste rubble, ground water contamination and asbestos.