UN: 250,000 flee from Lebanon to Syria amid Israeli attacks

The local authorities, the Syrian Red Crescent, the UN and partners are working continuously to provide a humane and efficient response to the influx.

08 Oct 2024 10:35am
Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted a neighborhood in Beirut’s southern suburbs on Oct 7, 2024. - (Photo by Anwar Amro / AFP)
Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted a neighborhood in Beirut’s southern suburbs on Oct 7, 2024. - (Photo by Anwar Amro / AFP)

ISTANBUL - Some 250,000 people have crossed from Lebanon into Syria following Israel’s intensified attacks, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Monday, as quoted by Anadolu Agency.

"I’m at the Syrian-Lebanese border, where a quarter of a million people have crossed since Sept 23," Filippo Grandi said on X.

The local authorities, the Syrian Red Crescent, the UN, and partners are working continuously to provide a humane and efficient response to the influx, he added.

On Saturday, Grandi arrived in the region to meet officials, and Syrian and Lebanese nationals, who had fled Lebanon due to Israeli attacks.

Grandi said hundreds of thousands of people are left destitute or displaced by Israeli air strikes.

Israel has mounted massive airstrikes across Lebanon against what it claims Hezbollah targets since Sept 23, killing 1,251, injuring 3,618 others, and displacing more than 1.2 million people.

Despite international warnings that the Middle East region was on the brink of a regional war amid Israel’s relentless attacks on Gaza and Lebanon, Tel Aviv expanded the conflict by launching on Oct 1 a ground invasion into southern Lebanon. - BERNAMA