Thousands of families flee Lebanon to Syria amid ‘terrible damage’ caused by Israeli bombing

UNHCR says hundreds of vehicles are stuck at border and calls for avoiding “a new displacement crisis”

September 25 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said on Wednesday that thousands of families are fleeing from Lebanon to Syria due to the intensification of Israeli bombings against Lebanese territory and said that hundreds of vehicles are stuck at the border, while others arrive on foot carrying some of their belongings with them.

“This bloodshed is causing terrible havoc, forcing tens of thousands of people to flee their homes,” said the head of the office, Filippo Grandi, who stressed that the situation “is a new blow for families who had previously fled the war in Syria and are now suffering from bombings in the country where they sought refuge.”

“We must avoid a repeat of these scenes of despair and devastation. The Middle East cannot afford another displacement crisis,” he said. “Let us not create a new crisis by forcing more people to flee their homes. Protecting civilian lives must be the priority.”

The agency said thousands of people, including children and babies, are queuing near the border to cross into Syrian territory, sometimes after spending the night in the open. Among them are also some people injured in the latest Israeli attacks, which have left more than 550 dead and some 1,800 injured since Monday.

UNHCR said its staff and partners, including the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, were on the ground providing food, water, blankets and mats to the new arrivals, and referring them to support services available once in Syria, a country mired in civil war since 2011.

The Lebanese government has estimated that around half a million people have been displaced by Israeli attacks since October 2023, including nearly 400,000 since the Israeli army launched a wave of large-scale bombings on Monday.

“We had 110,000 displaced people and now this figure is approaching half a million,” said Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib during an event organised by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace think tank and broadcast by the organisation on its YouTube channel.

The escalation of clashes between Israel and Hezbollah, a group supported by Iran that has significant military and political clout in Lebanon, has raised fears of the possibility of an expansion of the conflict in the Middle East. In this context, the Israeli army recently presented its “operational plans” regarding Lebanon to the United States.