Nearly 29,000 Lebanese Flee Homes Near Israel Border, Says UN

Border fence between Lebanon and Israel (AFP)
Border fence between Lebanon and Israel (AFP)
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Nearly 29,000 Lebanese Flee Homes Near Israel Border, Says UN

Border fence between Lebanon and Israel (AFP)
Border fence between Lebanon and Israel (AFP)

Nearly 29,000 Lebanese civilians have fled communities near the border with Israel because of deadly artillery exchanges between Iran-backed Hezbollah and the Israeli army, a UN agency said Friday.

A total of 28,965 Lebanese have fled their homes, the International Organization for Migration said in an update, adding that the figure had risen by 37 percent since its last report on Tuesday.

Some have found refuge with family members farther from the border, while those who can afford it have been able to rent apartments on a short-term basis, according to AFP.

But with Lebanon in the grips of an economic crisis that has plunged most of the population into poverty, many are living in makeshift shelters in the south's larger towns.

In Lebanon, at least 58 people have been killed in the cross-border exchanges of fire, most of them Hezbollah fighters but also including at least four civilians, one of them Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah.

On October 7, Hamas fighters poured from the Gaza Strip into Israel, killing 1,400 people, and kidnapping 229 more, according to Israeli officials.

In retaliatory Israeli air and artillery strikes, at least 7,326 people have been killed in Gaza, including 3,038 children, according to figures released by the health ministry in the Hamas-controlled territory.

The death toll in Gaza is the highest there since Israel withdrew from the Palestinian territory in 2005.



Iran-Backed Iraqi Militia Vows to Continue Fighting Israel

20 November 2024, Iraq, Baghdad: A view of an empty street near Baghdad's Tahrir square during a nationwide curfew restricting movement of citizens through the census period. (dpa)
20 November 2024, Iraq, Baghdad: A view of an empty street near Baghdad's Tahrir square during a nationwide curfew restricting movement of citizens through the census period. (dpa)
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Iran-Backed Iraqi Militia Vows to Continue Fighting Israel

20 November 2024, Iraq, Baghdad: A view of an empty street near Baghdad's Tahrir square during a nationwide curfew restricting movement of citizens through the census period. (dpa)
20 November 2024, Iraq, Baghdad: A view of an empty street near Baghdad's Tahrir square during a nationwide curfew restricting movement of citizens through the census period. (dpa)

One of the most powerful Iran-backed factions in Iraq said it would continue its operations in support of Gaza despite the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire.

Iraqi militias have repeatedly launched attacks on Israel from Iraq in the nearly 14 months since the Israel-Hamas war broke out.

In a statement, the Kataib Hezbollah group said that the ceasefire would not have been possible without the “resilience of Hezbollah fighters and the failure of the Zionists to achieve their objectives, making the decision solely Lebanese.”

The group said that a pause by one member of the so-called Axis of Resistance, which includes Iran-backed groups from Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Yemen, would not undermine the broader “unity of fronts” strategy.

The militia also said the US had been Israel’s partner “in all acts of betrayal, killing, destruction and displacement,” and said it “will eventually have to pay for its actions.”