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.



Hezbollah Says it Fired Missiles at Military Base Near Ben Gurion Airport

People look at a damaged car where an artillery shell fell before it was removed by Israeli police in Raanana near Tel Aviv on November 6, 2024, following a reported barrage of rockets launched from Lebanon towards Israel. (Photo by Jack GUEZ / AFP)
People look at a damaged car where an artillery shell fell before it was removed by Israeli police in Raanana near Tel Aviv on November 6, 2024, following a reported barrage of rockets launched from Lebanon towards Israel. (Photo by Jack GUEZ / AFP)
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Hezbollah Says it Fired Missiles at Military Base Near Ben Gurion Airport

People look at a damaged car where an artillery shell fell before it was removed by Israeli police in Raanana near Tel Aviv on November 6, 2024, following a reported barrage of rockets launched from Lebanon towards Israel. (Photo by Jack GUEZ / AFP)
People look at a damaged car where an artillery shell fell before it was removed by Israeli police in Raanana near Tel Aviv on November 6, 2024, following a reported barrage of rockets launched from Lebanon towards Israel. (Photo by Jack GUEZ / AFP)

Hezbollah said on Wednesday that it fired missiles at a military base near Ben Gurion Airport, Israel's main international gateway.

Israeli media reported on Wednesday that a rocket had landed near the airport. The airports authority said the airport was continuing to operate as usual.

Israeli forces and Hezbollah have been clashing for more than a year, since Hezbollah started firing rockets across the border soon after the deadly Hamas-led attack on southern Israel sparked the ongoing war in Gaza in October last year.

The war on the Lebanese front has substantially escalated since mid-September, with Israel launching a massive aerial bombardment and ground invasion.