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Philippine President Orders Preparations for Evacuation from Lebanon as Aid Arrives from Türkiye

Rescue workers dig as they search for victims on a destroyed hotel-turned-shelter for displaced people hit by an Israeli airstrike, in Wardaniyeh, south Lebanon, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP)
Rescue workers dig as they search for victims on a destroyed hotel-turned-shelter for displaced people hit by an Israeli airstrike, in Wardaniyeh, south Lebanon, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP)
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Philippine President Orders Preparations for Evacuation from Lebanon as Aid Arrives from Türkiye

Rescue workers dig as they search for victims on a destroyed hotel-turned-shelter for displaced people hit by an Israeli airstrike, in Wardaniyeh, south Lebanon, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP)
Rescue workers dig as they search for victims on a destroyed hotel-turned-shelter for displaced people hit by an Israeli airstrike, in Wardaniyeh, south Lebanon, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP)

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ordered government agencies Wednesday to prepare to evacuate Filipinos “by whatever means” from Lebanon.

Marcos held a virtual meeting with key Cabinet members while attending a summit of Southeast Asia leaders in Laos, underscoring the urgency as Israel intensified attacks against the Iran-backed Hezbollah group.

“We are now going to evacuate our people by whatever means — by air, or by sea,” Marcos said, adding that any ship to be used has to be positioned near Beirut so Filipinos could immediately leave.

About 11,000 Filipinos live and work in Lebanon, including many house helpers, but Philippine Foreign Affairs officials say many are hesitant to leave their jobs. Only about 171 Filipinos in Lebanon were ready for immediate repatriation, they said.

Meanwhile, Turkish navy ships docked at a port in Beirut on Wednesday as a part of a mission to bring humanitarian aid to Lebanon and evacuate Turkish citizens.

Two of the ships, which can accommodate up to 2,000 passengers, were carrying up to 300 tons of humanitarian aid consisting of food, tents and blankets, according to a statement from the Turkish Defense Ministry.

Rear Adm. Nihat Baran, commander of the evacuation mission, said the trip was ordered by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan “to ensure that our citizens living in Lebanon are transferred to Türkiye safely.”

Citizens of Bulgaria, Romania and Kazakhstan also applied for the evacuation, the ministry said.

The two ships are part of a larger six-vessel convoy that departed the southern port of Mersin early Wednesday. The Turkish Foreign Ministry said additional evacuations would be organized if necessary.

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Arab World

Syria Appoints Kurdish YPG Commander Sipan Hamo Deputy Defense Minister

Sipan Hamo, the commander of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG)
Sipan Hamo, the commander of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG)
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Syria Appoints Kurdish YPG Commander Sipan Hamo Deputy Defense Minister

Sipan Hamo, the commander of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG)
Sipan Hamo, the commander of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG)

Syria's defense ministry said on Tuesday that Sipan Hamo, commander of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), had been appointed deputy defense minister for the country's eastern territories.

The move is seen as part of implementing a US-brokered integration agreement signed on January 29 between Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) commander Mazloum Abdi and Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa.

"Sipan Hamo has been appointed Assistant Minister of Defence for the eastern region," a defense ministry official said in a statement.

Arab World

UN: Almost 700,000 Displaced, 84 Children Killed after Israeli Strikes on Lebanon

An explosion erupts following an Israeli airstrike on the village of Abbasiyeh in southern Lebanon on March 10, 2026 - (Photo by KAWNAT HAJU / AFP)
An explosion erupts following an Israeli airstrike on the village of Abbasiyeh in southern Lebanon on March 10, 2026 - (Photo by KAWNAT HAJU / AFP)
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UN: Almost 700,000 Displaced, 84 Children Killed after Israeli Strikes on Lebanon

An explosion erupts following an Israeli airstrike on the village of Abbasiyeh in southern Lebanon on March 10, 2026 - (Photo by KAWNAT HAJU / AFP)
An explosion erupts following an Israeli airstrike on the village of Abbasiyeh in southern Lebanon on March 10, 2026 - (Photo by KAWNAT HAJU / AFP)

The humanitarian crisis in Lebanon has deepened amid the wider Middle East war, with 84 children killed and more than 667,000 people displaced, two UN agencies said on Tuesday, as lives are upended on a massive scale across the country.

A total of 486 people have been killed in the war so far and 1,313 injured, of which 259 are children, according to the World Health Organization.

"This is only seven-days conflict, and we are already seeing that almost 100 children that have lost their lives," said Abdinasir Abubakar, WHO representative in Lebanon.

"One reason why we have a high number of children is that most of the attacks that we see actually is, it's urban centers, like in Beirut," he said, adding that Israel's airstrikes, which it says target Hezbollah infrastructure, are putting civilian lives at risk.

The current rate of displacement in Lebanon is outpacing levels seen during the 2023-24 war between Hezbollah and Israel, the UN Refugee Agency said on Tuesday. During that conflict, 886,000 people were internally displaced in Lebanon, while tens of thousands of Israelis were evacuated from northern towns near the Lebanese border.

ISRAEL ORDERS EVACUATION

Lebanon's sharp rise in displacement this week stems from large-scale evacuation orders issued by the Israeli army for southern Lebanon and Beirut's densely populated southern suburbs, which the UN human rights chief said on Friday raised serious concerns under international law.

The WHO warned that Lebanon's hospitals and frontline responders were under "extraordinary strain" trying to manage the rising number of patients.

Five hospitals are now out of service, four partially damaged, and 43 primary healthcare centers are closed - mostly in the south, which has been largely evacuated, Abubakar said.

"Many of the people fleeing were also fleeing back in 2024. We met many who then had their homes completely destroyed, family members killed and so on. So this means that people are not waiting to see what will happen next. They leave immediately," said Karolina Lindholm Billing, UNHCR representative in Lebanon.

Some 120,000 people are staying in government-designated shelters, while others are still looking for somewhere to stay, the UNHCR said, citing government figures.

"Many others are staying with relatives or friends or still searching for accommodation, and we see cars lined along the street with people sleeping in them and also on the sidewalks," Billing said.

Arab World

Holdouts Flee Lebanon Border Village After Israeli Warning

An Israeli tank maneuvers in southern Lebanon near the border with Israel, Sunday, March 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
An Israeli tank maneuvers in southern Lebanon near the border with Israel, Sunday, March 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
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Holdouts Flee Lebanon Border Village After Israeli Warning

An Israeli tank maneuvers in southern Lebanon near the border with Israel, Sunday, March 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
An Israeli tank maneuvers in southern Lebanon near the border with Israel, Sunday, March 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

The last residents of a Christian village on Lebanon's border with Israel fled the area on Tuesday, a UN source and an AFP correspondent said, after locals had for days defied an Israeli order to leave.

Fighting flared last week between Israel and Lebanese militant group Hezbollah as part of a wider regional war, prompting the Israeli military to warn people across swathes of southern Lebanon to flee.

But some residents in Christian towns and villages refused to join a mass exodus, with dozens in the Alma al-Shaab area staying put despite the violence.

Fears spiked however after an Israeli strike at the weekend killed one resident.

On Tuesday, an AFP correspondent in the nearby Naqura area saw a convoy of vehicles transporting people who had left Alma al-Shaab, including women, children and the elderly. Their cars were packed with belongings, some strapped to the roofs.

Vehicles from Lebanon's United Nations peacekeeping force accompanied the convoy to a Lebanese army checkpoint further north, the correspondent said.

A source from the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) told AFP that more than 80 people had left and the village was now empty, saying they had been transported to areas outside the force's operations.

UNIFIL had said on Monday that "at the request of the municipality" of Alma al-Shaab, it was "ready to facilitate the safe movement of civilians who wish to leave".

Last week, local mayor Shadi Sayah had told AFP that "it is our right to preserve and remain on our land".

"We are pacifists... a danger to no one," the mayor said.

The Israeli army announced last week its intention to establish a buffer zone in southern Lebanon, saying the goal was to protect residents of northern Israel from Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.

The Lebanese army, which had maintained a post in Alma al-Shaab, withdrew last Tuesday as Israeli forces started incursions into the country.

Many towns and villages along Lebanon's border have been damaged or destroyed since October 2023, when hostilities erupted between Israel and Hezbollah over the Gaza war, but some predominantly Christian villages have gone relatively unscathed.

Farther east in the village of Qlayaa, a parish priest died on Monday of wounds sustained from Israeli tank fire, sparking anger and fear.

Qlayaa mayor Hanna Daher has urged Lebanese authorities to prevent any armed presence in or around the town, referring to Hezbollah.