Beirut, MINA – The United Nations’ High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has announced further support for the increasing masses of displaced refugees flooding into Syria from neighbouring Lebanon, MEMO reported.
Since Israeli forces intensified their attacks on Lebanon at the beginning of this week in an attempt to target the group, Hezbollah, and its support base, particularly in the south of the country, those attacks have killed at least 558 people and injured 1,835.
Lebanese authorities have also cited the displacement of over 27,000 people over the past two days, with many of the fleeing Lebanese opting to exit the country through the Syrian border.
Amid this ongoing and growing displacement, the UNHCR has announced that the Agency and its partners – such as the Syrian Arab Red Crescent – are present at the border crossings, and are providing food, water, blankets and mattresses to people arriving, as well as guiding them towards support available within Syria.
The UN’s High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, stated that Israel’s “bloodshed is extracting a terrible toll, driving tens of thousands from their homes”. Lamenting that the situation “is yet another ordeal for families who previously fled war in Syria only now to be bombed in the country where they sought shelter”, Grandi warned against “replaying these scenes of despair and devastation. The Middle East cannot afford a new displacement crisis. Let us not create one by forcing more people to abandon their homes. Protecting civilian lives must be the priority.” (T/R3/RE1)