Lebanese Government: Over 400,000 people have fled Lebanon to Syria

Shafaq News/ More than 400,000 people have crossed from Lebanon into Syria in the past two weeks as Israel intensified airstrikes across Lebanon, the Lebanese government's Disaster Risk Management Unit said on Monday.

“Between September 23 and October 5, 2024, 300,774 Syrian nationals and 102,283 Lebanese citizens crossed into Syria,” according to the report.

On September 30, Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, who arrived on Saturday to the region, said, "I’m at the Syrian-Lebanese border, where a quarter of a million people have crossed since 23 September."

Grandi added that UNHCR teams, alongside local authorities and the Syrian Red Crescent, were stationed at four crossing points to assist the new arrivals.

Israel has launched extensive airstrikes across Lebanon, targeting what it claims are Hezbollah positions since Sept. 23. The strikes have killed 1,251 people, injured 3,618 others, and displaced over 1.2 million.

Israel also targeted the Al-Masnaa, the main border crossing between Lebanon and Syria, on October 4, which hindered civilians attempting to flee and disrupting humanitarian operations, Human Rights Watch said the strikes have placed civilians in grave danger.

“By making a border crossing inaccessible at a time when hundreds of thousands of people are fleeing fighting and many others need aid, the Israeli military threatens considerable civilian harm,” said Lama Fakih, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “Even if that crossing is used for military purposes, Israel would need to take into account the expected civilian harm compared to the anticipated military gain from the attack.”