Escalation in Lebanon: UN steps up support at border with Syria
“Hundreds of vehicles lined up at the Syrian border; many people also came on foot, carrying what they could,” United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees reported. “Large crowds, including women, children and babies, were waiting in line after sleeping outdoors in freezing temperatures. Some still had fresh injuries from recent bombings.”
UNHCR chief Filippo Grandi said the news was “another ordeal for families” who had fled years of civil war in Syria, “only to be bombed again in the country where they sought refuge…The Middle East cannot afford a new displacement crisis. Let’s not create one by forcing more people from their homes.“ .
Mr Grandi’s call came after heavy Israeli shelling of Lebanon on Monday killed at least 558 people – including children and women – and injured 1,835, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.
The airstrikes followed a week of rocket attacks on Israeli communities in response to a series of unusual explosions last week of pagers and walkie-talkies belonging to Hezbollah members – the latest deadly development in the ongoing war in Gaza.
An emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council on the deteriorating humanitarian situation across Lebanon, at the request of France, is scheduled to take place on Wednesday evening in New York.
Leaving ‘by the minute’
More than 27,000 people have been displaced in the past 48 hours and people have been “leaving their homes every minute,” UNHCR said.
Latest UN data shows at least 90,530 people were newly displaced people in Lebanon along with nearly 112,000 people displaced since October 2023.
Together with partners including the Syrian Arab Red Crescent Society, the UN agency is present at border crossings with Syria to “provide food, water, blankets and mattresses to those arriving, and direct them to available assistance upon arrival in Syria”.
Lebanon is home to some 1.5 million Syrian refugees who fled the country during the ongoing civil war, leaving vital infrastructure devastated and millions in need of assistance.
War-related mass displacement
In an update on the crisis in Lebanon, the United Nations aid coordination office, OCHAnoted that more than 110,000 people have been displaced since last October.
By late Tuesday evening, more than 25,000 people had found shelter in 130 new collective shelters, according to government figures cited by OCHA. “The situation remains fluid and the UN is working with national authorities and partners to monitor and register newly displaced people,” the agency said.
Other UN agencies supporting the relief effort include UNICEFhas shipped 100 tons of emergency medical supplies to hospitals facing severe shortages “and will send more.”
$170 million needed to maintain support
The UN agency is also preparing to provide food, water and essential supplies such as mattresses and hygiene kits to displaced families.
United Nations World Food Programme (World Food Programme), meanwhile, said it is ready to provide daily hot meals to up to 100,000 people in shelters.
Humanitarian agencies say sustaining these efforts will require $170 million in funding.
Vehicles carrying families fleeing Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon arrived at the Syrian border on Tuesday.
Outrage over killing of UN staff
In a related development, the United Nations refugee agency express deep indignation and sadness on the killing of two employees in an airstrike in Lebanon.
The first victim, Dina Darwiche, died along with her youngest son after the building where she lived with her family in eastern Lebanon was hit by an Israeli missile on Monday. Their bodies were found on Tuesday, while her husband and one of their children were seriously injured and are being treated in hospital.
Ali Basma, the second victim, had worked for the UN agency in the city of Tyre for seven years. He was confirmed dead on Monday, UNHCR said, before expressing outrage at the death.
“The protection of civilians is imperative and we reiterate the Secretary-General’s call for urgent de-escalation.and calls on all parties to protect civilians, including aid workers, in accordance with their obligations under international humanitarian law,” the UN agency said.
