UNHCR: Israel's Border Airstrikes Hindering Refugees Fleeing Lebanon for Syria

Displaced Syrians from Lebanon arrive in areas controlled by the Syrian opposition in northwestern Syria via the crossing Aoun al-Dadat north of Manbij with the Syrian Democratic Forces after a long displacement journey. Photo: Anas Alkharboutli/dpa
Displaced Syrians from Lebanon arrive in areas controlled by the Syrian opposition in northwestern Syria via the crossing Aoun al-Dadat north of Manbij with the Syrian Democratic Forces after a long displacement journey. Photo: Anas Alkharboutli/dpa
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UNHCR: Israel's Border Airstrikes Hindering Refugees Fleeing Lebanon for Syria

Displaced Syrians from Lebanon arrive in areas controlled by the Syrian opposition in northwestern Syria via the crossing Aoun al-Dadat north of Manbij with the Syrian Democratic Forces after a long displacement journey. Photo: Anas Alkharboutli/dpa
Displaced Syrians from Lebanon arrive in areas controlled by the Syrian opposition in northwestern Syria via the crossing Aoun al-Dadat north of Manbij with the Syrian Democratic Forces after a long displacement journey. Photo: Anas Alkharboutli/dpa

Israeli air strikes overnight on the main border crossing to Syria had left Lebanon's main crossing point to its neighbor unable to function, hindering refugee attempts to flee a country where a fifth of the population is already internally displaced, the UN's refugee agency said.
Rula Amin, the UNHCR's Amman-based spokesperson, said she was unaware of any warning being given before the strike, which landed 500 meters from the main border crossing, Reuters reported.
Some 430,000 people have crossed from Lebanon to Syria since Israel's campaign started, she said.
"The attacks on the border crossings are a major concern," she said. "They are blocking the path to safety for people fleeing conflict."



Israeli Strikes on Gaza Strip Leave 15 Dead, Medics Say

 Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a school sheltering displaced people, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Gaza City November 27, 2024. (Reuters)
Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a school sheltering displaced people, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Gaza City November 27, 2024. (Reuters)
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Israeli Strikes on Gaza Strip Leave 15 Dead, Medics Say

 Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a school sheltering displaced people, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Gaza City November 27, 2024. (Reuters)
Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a school sheltering displaced people, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Gaza City November 27, 2024. (Reuters)

Israeli military strikes across the Gaza Strip killed 15 people on Wednesday, some of them in a school housing displaced people, medics in Gaza said, adding that the fatalities included two sons of a former Hamas spokesman.

Health officials in the Hamas-run enclave said eight Palestinians were killed and dozens of others wounded in an Israeli strike that hit the Al-Tabeaeen School, which was sheltering displaced families in Gaza City. Among those killed were two sons of former Hamas spokesman, Fawzi Barhoum, according to medics and Barhoum himself.

In the Shejaia suburb of Gaza City, another strike killed four people, while three people were killed in an Israeli air strike in Beit Lahiya on the northern edge of the enclave where army forces have been operating since last month.

Separately, a ceasefire between Israel and Iran-backed group Hezbollah came into effect on Wednesday after both sides accepted an agreement brokered by the US and France, a rare victory for diplomacy in a region shaken by two wars for over a year.

Iran-backed Hezbollah began firing missiles at Israel in solidarity with Hamas after the Palestinian group attacked Israel in October of 2023, killing around 1,200 people and capturing over 250 hostages, Israel has said, triggering the Gaza war.

Israel's 13-month campaign in Gaza has left nearly 44,200 people dead and displaced nearly all the enclave's population at least once, according to Gaza health officials.

Months of attempts to negotiate a ceasefire have yielded scant progress and negotiations are now on hold, with mediator Qatar saying it has told the two warring parties it would suspend its efforts until the sides are prepared to make concessions.