Clashes at Lebanon-Israel Border Disrupts Education of Children

(FILES) The entrance of a public school is decorated with mural paintings, in Beirut on September 21, 2023. (Photo by ANWAR AMRO / AFP)
(FILES) The entrance of a public school is decorated with mural paintings, in Beirut on September 21, 2023. (Photo by ANWAR AMRO / AFP)
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Clashes at Lebanon-Israel Border Disrupts Education of Children

(FILES) The entrance of a public school is decorated with mural paintings, in Beirut on September 21, 2023. (Photo by ANWAR AMRO / AFP)
(FILES) The entrance of a public school is decorated with mural paintings, in Beirut on September 21, 2023. (Photo by ANWAR AMRO / AFP)

Clashes on Lebanon’s southern border against the backdrop of the Israel-Hamas war have exacerbated an education crisis in country that has been in the throes of a major economic meltdown for the past four years, UNICEF said Wednesday.

A survey of Lebanese as well as Syrian and Palestinian refugee households living in Lebanon conducted by the UN agency in November found that 26% of households had school-aged children who were not attending school, up from 18% in April.

Syrians reported the highest prevalence of children out of school, at 52% of households, followed by Lebanese at 13% and Palestinians at 7%.

While the “cost of education materials” was the most-cited reason, UNICEF said, thousands of children were also out of education due to disruptions related to ongoing fighting on the border between Hezbollah and Israeli forces.

The clashes have killed about 130 people in Lebanon, including 17 civilians, according to a tally by The Associated Press, and have displaced nearly 59,000, according to the International Organization for Migration.



Syrian Wildfires Spread Due to Heavy Winds and War Remnants

 A Turkish helicopter drops water on the flames as it helps fight a wildfire near the town of Rabia, in Syria's Latakia countryside, early Monday, July 7, 2025. (AP)
A Turkish helicopter drops water on the flames as it helps fight a wildfire near the town of Rabia, in Syria's Latakia countryside, early Monday, July 7, 2025. (AP)
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Syrian Wildfires Spread Due to Heavy Winds and War Remnants

 A Turkish helicopter drops water on the flames as it helps fight a wildfire near the town of Rabia, in Syria's Latakia countryside, early Monday, July 7, 2025. (AP)
A Turkish helicopter drops water on the flames as it helps fight a wildfire near the town of Rabia, in Syria's Latakia countryside, early Monday, July 7, 2025. (AP)

Syrian firefighters are facing heavy winds, high temperatures and ordnance left behind from the 13-year civil war as they try to extinguish some of country's worst wildfires in years, a government minister said Monday.

The fires, which started last week, have proven difficult to bring under control despite reinforcements from Jordan, Türkiye and Lebanon that came to the war-torn country to help Syrian teams fight the blaze.

Syrian Minister of Emergency and Disaster Management Raed al-Saleh said their main challenges are two locations in the coastal province of Latakia that they have been trying to control for two days.

“We have controlled other locations,” al-Saleh told The Associated Press at the scene.

On the second day of the fire, firefighters managed to get 90% of the wildfires under control but explosions of left-over war ordnance and heavy winds helped spread the fires again, al-Saleh said. He added that 120 teams are fighting the blazes.

On Monday, the Lebanese army said it sent two helicopters to help fight the fires in coordination with Syrian authorities.

Over the weekend, UN teams deployed to the Syrian coast where they are conducting urgent assessments to determine the scale of the damage and to identify the most immediate humanitarian needs.

Summer fires are common in the eastern Mediterranean region, where experts warn that climate change is intensifying conditions that then lead to blazes.

Also, below-average rainfall over the winter left Syrians struggling with water shortages this summer, as the springs and rivers that normally supply much of the population with drinking water have gone dry.