Over 30,000 crossed into Syria from Lebanon in past days, says UN

Lebanese fleeing the Israeli bombardment, arrive in a taxi at the Syrian-Lebanese border crossing in Jdaidet Yabous, Syria. (AP)
  • About 80 percent of those crossings are Syrians and about 20 percent are Lebanese

BERLIN: Well over 30,000 people, mainly Syrians, have crossed into Syria from Lebanon in the past 72 hours, the UN refugee agency said on Friday, amid an escalating conflict between Israeli forces and Hezbollah that has killed hundreds of people in Lebanon.
About 80 percent of those crossings are Syrians and about 20 percent are Lebanese, said the UNHCR representative in Syria, Gonzalo Vargas Llosa, adding that about half are children and adolescents, and that men are making the crossing in smaller numbers than women.
“They are crossing from a country at war to one that has faced a crisis conflict for 13 years,” an extremely difficult choice, he told a news conference.
“We will have to see over the next few days how many more do so,” added the representative.