The first Syrian refugees to be sent to the Outer Hebrides are due within weeks, the local council confirmed yesterday.
More than 30 people have volunteered to help the refugees settle in.
The Western Isles Council said that two families will arrive soon.
Council leader Angus Campbell said local agencies have been working hard to make the arrival of families as “discreet and smooth as possible.”
They will be housed in and around the Stornoway area. The families will be supported where necessary but also will be given the space that they need to re-adjust to family life in the Outer Hebrides.
Mr Campbell said that he was “confident that as a community we will be welcoming and compassionate and allow the families the scope they will need to resettle within our islands. All partners are pulling together to do this which is also really encouraging.”
In total up to six families will be housed on the remote islands this year.
The council said the Western Isles Syrian Family Refugee Resettlement Working Group has been working over recent months in preparation for the arrival of Syrian families in the islands.
Volunteers have come forward for befriending, teaching English, translating and showing people around.