IOM: More than 200,000 Syrians have crossed from the Lebanese border into Syria
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) announced that nearly 235,000 people crossed from the Lebanese border into Syria by land since last September 21 until October 3.
IOM’s head of office in Lebanon, Mathieu Luciano, said at a press conference from Beirut that “this mass exodus included about 82,000 Lebanese and 152,000 Syrians, which reflects the gravity of the worsening regional tensions and the growing instability in the region.”
Citing the Lebanese authorities, Luciano added: “About 50,000 people mainly Lebanese and 10000 Syrians left via Beirut airport during the same period, while more than 1000 people fled by sea.”
According to IOM’s data, 400,000 people were displaced during the last two weeks until this October 2, coinciding with the Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon, in addition to ground incursions into the south of the country.
The data pointed out that about 1 million people were displaced inside Lebanon during the same period amid escalating the exchange of fire on the two sides of the UN-patrolled “Blue Line” separating between Lebanon and Israel, following the outbreak of Israeli war on Gaza.
The UNHCR documented in a report the killing of about 1,745 people and the injury of 8,767 others in the recent hostilities in Lebanon, explaining that among them were at least 113 Syrians, including 40 children and 19 women, and the injury of approximately 343 people, including 127 children and 95 women.
It is noteworthy that the Syrian-Lebanese border is witnessing a large exodus from Lebanon to Syria, and the influx of thousands of Syrian and Lebanese civilians to the border area to escape the continuous Israeli bombardment, causing hundreds of deaths and injuries.
