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.



NGOs Seek UN Emergency Rights Meeting, Investigation on Israel's War on Lebanon

An excavator operates around a damaged building targeted by an Israeli airstrike, in the town of Barja, Chouf district, Mount Lebanon Governorate, Lebanon, 06 November 2024. (EPA)
An excavator operates around a damaged building targeted by an Israeli airstrike, in the town of Barja, Chouf district, Mount Lebanon Governorate, Lebanon, 06 November 2024. (EPA)
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NGOs Seek UN Emergency Rights Meeting, Investigation on Israel's War on Lebanon

An excavator operates around a damaged building targeted by an Israeli airstrike, in the town of Barja, Chouf district, Mount Lebanon Governorate, Lebanon, 06 November 2024. (EPA)
An excavator operates around a damaged building targeted by an Israeli airstrike, in the town of Barja, Chouf district, Mount Lebanon Governorate, Lebanon, 06 November 2024. (EPA)

A group of NGOs pressed countries on Wednesday to hold an emergency session of the United Nations Human Rights Council to set up an investigation into abuses committed by both sides of the Israel-Hezbollah conflict in Lebanon.

Israel and the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah have been fighting for more than a year, in parallel with Israel's war in Gaza, after Hezbollah began firing rockets at Israel in solidarity with its ally Hamas.

The Lebanon conflict has dramatically escalated since mid-September, with most of the more than 3,000 deaths reported by Lebanon since October 2023 occurring in that period.

In a letter to diplomatic missions, 12 NGOs including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International urged states to act decisively over a situation "spiraling out of control", citing incidents such as Israeli strikes on civilian infrastructure such as homes and hospitals.

"There's a huge risk of the same types of atrocities occurring in Lebanon as in Gaza," said Jeremie Smith, Geneva Director of the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, whose organization is leading the call.

"Entire towns are being levelled, thousands of people are being killed and injured and there's not a single investigation that has been opened by anyone, anywhere. We can't let that stand," he told Reuters.

The meeting is almost certain to obtain the required one-third of votes in the 47-member council but would need the support of Lebanon, which some diplomats said might have reservations about inviting scrutiny of Hezbollah's actions.

Lebanon's Geneva ambassador Salim Baddoura told Reuters a session was "possible" but that Beirut had yet to take a decision.

Debates addressing Israel's policies have in the past been controversial and current voting member the United States temporarily left the council in 2018 under then-President Donald Trump alleging anti-Israeli bias.

Such a meeting could also reignite allegations of double standards against Western states supportive of accountability for Russian violations in Ukraine since its 2022 invasion, but who maintain support for Israel.

Israel's military says it tries to avoid harming civilians but says Hamas and Hezbollah fighters hide among them.

The UN body does not have legally binding powers but it can mandate investigations to document abuses, which sometimes form the basis for war crimes prosecutions.