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UN Agency Says Israeli Strikes on Lebanon Have Driven Half a Million People into Syria

People carry their belongings while crossing from Lebanon into Syria, as they walk past a crater caused in the aftermath of an Israeli strike that occurred early on Friday morning, at Jousieh crossing between Syria and Lebanon, Syria October 28, 2024. (Reuters)
People carry their belongings while crossing from Lebanon into Syria, as they walk past a crater caused in the aftermath of an Israeli strike that occurred early on Friday morning, at Jousieh crossing between Syria and Lebanon, Syria October 28, 2024. (Reuters)
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UN Agency Says Israeli Strikes on Lebanon Have Driven Half a Million People into Syria

People carry their belongings while crossing from Lebanon into Syria, as they walk past a crater caused in the aftermath of an Israeli strike that occurred early on Friday morning, at Jousieh crossing between Syria and Lebanon, Syria October 28, 2024. (Reuters)
People carry their belongings while crossing from Lebanon into Syria, as they walk past a crater caused in the aftermath of an Israeli strike that occurred early on Friday morning, at Jousieh crossing between Syria and Lebanon, Syria October 28, 2024. (Reuters)

Israel’s escalated aerial bombardment of Lebanon has driven over half a million people to cross the border into Syria, overwhelming already strained resources.

Among the arrivals, an estimated 7,000 are pregnant, with about 800 expected to give birth within the next month, Muriel Mafico, the representative of the United Nations Population Fund in Syria, told The Associated Press.

“The majority of the people who arrived in Syria are women and children,” she said. “Once again, it is women and children who are paying a heavy price.”

Mafico said the UNFPA, along with its international and local partners, is providing services at the border as well as following up on those women who are ending up in shelters or staying with relatives in Syria.

But, she said, "the response so far is less than adequate due to the constraints on resources that we have.”

The Lebanese General Security recorded 361,300 Syrians and 177,864 Lebanese crossing into Syria between Sept. 23 and Nov. 1, according to a report by Lebanon’s crisis response unit.

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Kremlin Says It Wants Syria to Swiftly Restore Order after Opposition Attack

Fighters take over the district of Khan al-Assal following fierce fighting between Syrian government forces and opposition forces along with their Turkish-backed allies in the northern Syrian Aleppo province, on November 29, 2024. (Photo by Aaref WATAD / AFP)
Fighters take over the district of Khan al-Assal following fierce fighting between Syrian government forces and opposition forces along with their Turkish-backed allies in the northern Syrian Aleppo province, on November 29, 2024. (Photo by Aaref WATAD / AFP)
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Kremlin Says It Wants Syria to Swiftly Restore Order after Opposition Attack

Fighters take over the district of Khan al-Assal following fierce fighting between Syrian government forces and opposition forces along with their Turkish-backed allies in the northern Syrian Aleppo province, on November 29, 2024. (Photo by Aaref WATAD / AFP)
Fighters take over the district of Khan al-Assal following fierce fighting between Syrian government forces and opposition forces along with their Turkish-backed allies in the northern Syrian Aleppo province, on November 29, 2024. (Photo by Aaref WATAD / AFP)

The Kremlin said on Friday it wanted the Syrian government to restore constitutional order in the Aleppo region as soon as possible after an insurgent offensive there that captured territory for the first time in years.
Russia, a staunch ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, intervened militarily on Assad's side against insurgents in 2015 in its biggest foray in the Middle East since the Soviet Union's collapse, and maintains an airbase and naval facility in Syria.
Opposition led Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group launched an incursion on Wednesday into a dozen towns and villages in the northwestern province of Aleppo, which is controlled by Assad's forces.
It was the first such territorial advance since March 2020 when Russia and Türkiye, which supports the opposition, agreed to a ceasefire that led to the halting of military action in Syria's last major opposition stronghold in the northwest.
Russian and Syrian warplanes bombed an opposition-held area near the border with Türkiye on Thursday to try to push back the insurgents, Syrian army and opposition sources said.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow regarded the attack as a violation of Syria's sovereignty and wanted the authorities to act fast to regain control.
"As for the situation around Aleppo, it is an attack on Syrian sovereignty and we are in favor of the Syrian authorities bringing order to the area and restoring constitutional order as soon as possible," said Peskov.
Asked about unconfirmed Russian Telegram reports that Assad had flown into Moscow for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Peskov said he had "nothing to say" on the matter.