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Death Toll from Sunken Lebanon Migrant Boat Rises

A member of the Lebanese Red Cross holds a stretcher as he waits with his colleagues to receive dead bodies after sinking of a migrant boat which according to Lebanese and Syrian officials sank off at Syrian coast after sailing from Lebanon, at the Lebanese-Syrian border crossing in Arida, Lebanon September 23, 2022. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
A member of the Lebanese Red Cross holds a stretcher as he waits with his colleagues to receive dead bodies after sinking of a migrant boat which according to Lebanese and Syrian officials sank off at Syrian coast after sailing from Lebanon, at the Lebanese-Syrian border crossing in Arida, Lebanon September 23, 2022. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
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Death Toll from Sunken Lebanon Migrant Boat Rises

A member of the Lebanese Red Cross holds a stretcher as he waits with his colleagues to receive dead bodies after sinking of a migrant boat which according to Lebanese and Syrian officials sank off at Syrian coast after sailing from Lebanon, at the Lebanese-Syrian border crossing in Arida, Lebanon September 23, 2022. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
A member of the Lebanese Red Cross holds a stretcher as he waits with his colleagues to receive dead bodies after sinking of a migrant boat which according to Lebanese and Syrian officials sank off at Syrian coast after sailing from Lebanon, at the Lebanese-Syrian border crossing in Arida, Lebanon September 23, 2022. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir

The death toll from a migrant boat that sank off the Syrian coast after sailing from Lebanon earlier this week has risen to 94, Syrian state TV said on Saturday.

The Syrian transport ministry has quoted survivors as saying the boat left from Lebanon's northern Minyeh region on Tuesday with between 120 and 150 people onboard, bound for Europe.

There were reported to be around 45 children on the boat, none of whom had survived, Lebanese transport minister Ali Hamiye said Friday.

Hamiye said the boat was "very small" and made of wood, describing such sailings as an almost daily occurrence organized by people who did not care for safety.

The spate of such voyages has been fueled by Lebanon's financial collapse in the last three years - one of the worst ever recorded globally. Poverty rates have sky-rocketed among the population of some 6.5 million.

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US Defers Removal of Some Lebanese, Citing Israel-Hezbollah Tensions

Smoke billows from a site targeted by Lebanon's Hezbollah, along the northern Israeli border with Lebanon on July 25, 2024, amid ongoing cross-border clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters. (AFP)
Smoke billows from a site targeted by Lebanon's Hezbollah, along the northern Israeli border with Lebanon on July 25, 2024, amid ongoing cross-border clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters. (AFP)
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US Defers Removal of Some Lebanese, Citing Israel-Hezbollah Tensions

Smoke billows from a site targeted by Lebanon's Hezbollah, along the northern Israeli border with Lebanon on July 25, 2024, amid ongoing cross-border clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters. (AFP)
Smoke billows from a site targeted by Lebanon's Hezbollah, along the northern Israeli border with Lebanon on July 25, 2024, amid ongoing cross-border clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters. (AFP)

The United States is deferring the removal of certain Lebanese citizens from the country, President Joe Biden said on Friday, citing humanitarian conditions in southern Lebanon amid tensions between Israel and Hezbollah.

The deferred designation, which lasts 18 months, allows Lebanese citizens to remain in the country with the right to work, according to a memorandum Biden sent to the Department of Homeland Security.

"Humanitarian conditions in southern Lebanon have significantly deteriorated due to tensions between Hezbollah and Israel," Biden said in the memo.

"While I remain focused on de-escalating the situation and improving humanitarian conditions, many civilians remain in danger; therefore, I am directing the deferral of removal of certain Lebanese nationals who are present in the United States."

Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah have been trading fire since Hezbollah announced a "support front" with Palestinians shortly after its ally Hamas attacked southern Israeli border communities on Oct. 7, triggering Israel's military assault in Gaza.

The fighting in Lebanon has killed more than 100 civilians and more than 300 Hezbollah fighters, according to a Reuters tally, and led to levels of destruction in Lebanese border towns and villages not seen since the 2006 Israel-Lebanon war.

On the Israeli side, 10 Israeli civilians, a foreign agricultural worker and 20 Israeli soldiers have been killed. Tens of thousands have been evacuated from both sides of the border.