UN agency says around 100,000 fled to Syria from Lebanon due to Israeli strikes

Geneva

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said on Monday (Sep 30) that around 100,000 people fled to Syria from Lebanon due to Israeli air strikes, a figure that has doubled in two days. 

In a post on X, UNHCR's Commissioner Filippo Grandi said, "The number of people who have crossed into Syria from Lebanon fleeing Israeli airstrikes -- Lebanese and Syrian nationals -- has reached 100,000." Grandi said that the outflow (of people) continued.

He added that the UN agency was "present at four crossing points, alongside local authorities and (the Syrian Red Crescent) to support new arrivals."

Israel has widened its attacks in recent days to include Lebanon as well as the Gaza Strip, targeting Iran's regional ally, Hezbollah. Israel's killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has further escalated the conflict.

Mass displacement into Syria began a week ago: UNHCR

Speaking to the news agency AFP, the UNHCR said that mass displacement into war-torn Syria began a week ago. By last Friday, 30,000 people had crossed into Syria.

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In a separate press briefing, the agency's representative in Syria Gonzalo Vargas Llosa, said around 80 per cent were Syrian nationals and 20 per cent Lebanese.

"Most are women and children, although some males have crossed. About half are children and adolescents," Llosa said.

He stressed the fleeing people were "arriving in a country that has been suffering from its own crisis and violence for more than 13 years, as well as from economic collapse."

"People fleeing the bombing arrive in Syria exhausted, traumatised and in desperate need of help," the official added. 

Updates from the West Asia crisis

In the latest updates from the West Asia crisis, Hamas said an Israeli airstrike killed its leader in Lebanon in the city of Tyre on Monday, and another Palestinian organisation said three of its leaders were killed in a strike in central Beirut - the first such hit inside the capital's limits.

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Hamas said its leader in Lebanon, Fateh Sherif Abu el-Amin was killed along with his wife, son and daughter, in a strike that targeted their house in a refugee camp in Tyre.

Meanwhile, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), said three of its leaders were killed in a strike that targeted Beirut's Kola district. This was the first time Israel had struck Beirut beyond the city's southern suburbs.

(With inputs from agencies)