Lebanon crisis: ‘This is just the beginning’ say those affected by deadly escalation

“We are witnessing the deadliest period in Lebanon in a generation and Many expressed fear that this is just the beginning,” said Imran Riza, the top United Nations aid official in Lebanon. “The UN and partners are working closely with the Lebanese government to support response efforts. This includes adjusting aid distribution, conducting joint assessments and identifying urgent needs for affected populations.”

Speaking from Beirut, Mr. Riza, the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator in Lebanon, said that for nearly a year, the country’s people – and especially those in the south – have “lived in fear”. that the war in Gaza could be upon them.

Today across Lebanon, thousands of people in rural communities previously unaffected by Israel’s targeting of Hezbollah infrastructure fled widespread bombardment and destruction that left at least 700 people were killed, thousands injured and about 120,000 had to flee their homes “in just a few hours”, he said, adding: “We encountered people asking: ‘Which way to Tripoli? How do we get there?’”

The UN aid coordinator’s comments come amid increasingly intense fighting on the UN-patrolled dividing line between Lebanon and Israel since October 7 when war broke out in the Strip. Gaza. Last week’s unusual attack on Hezbollah’s pagers and radios left hundreds dead and signaled the beginning of intense Israeli bombardment of Lebanon and retaliatory attacks by Hezbollah.

Relatively safe

Tens of thousands of people have fled Lebanon to the relative safety of Syria at various crossing points open 24 hours a day, the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) has been confirmed. “Where people are crossing into Syria, so far they are safe,” said Gonzalo Vargas Llosa, UNHCR Representative in Syria, at the Syria-Lebanon border.

“Of course, we will make an appeal not only for bombings in general to stop but of course to avoid bombing people who are trying to escape.”

Mr. Vargas Llosa described “a large number of people” returning to Syria, referring to some of the roughly 1.5 million Syrians in Lebanon who have fled their country’s civil war since 2011. It is estimated that the number is now more than 30,000 with about 75 people -80% of whom are Syrian and the remaining about 20% are Lebanese,” the UNHCR official said.

Young lives lost

“We saw quite a few injured people arrive; those injured not only through the extremely arduous journey on the way here but also as a direct result of the bombings in Lebanon.

“We saw a woman crossing with two dead children from Lebanon, who will be buried in Syria.”

Back in Lebanon, United Nations humanitarian organizations continue to coordinate aid to support the Lebanese government. Nearly 500 temporary shelters have been opened for about 80,000 displaced people, including 300 schools that have been repurposed, affecting the education of more than 100,000 students.

However, Mr. Riza said, “critical funding gaps” persist in many areas, including shelter repairs, site management, food storage, fuel and coordination, before warned that Lebanon’s health system was “completely overwhelmed” due to the severe escalation of hostilities.

“We’ve done a lot of preparatory work and luckily we’ve been able to get trauma kits and things like that and try to distribute them around the country because now travel is difficult,” he explained. Displacement is happening not only in the South.”

“For the first 11 months, it was mainly in the south – mainly in the Bekaa [Valley]… But now it has spread throughout the country.”