UN says 30,000 people have fled Lebanon for Syria in recent days

People fleeing Lebanon wait to cross the border with Syria through the Masnaa crossing in eastern Lebanon, on September 24, 2024. (Hassan Jarrah/AFP)
People fleeing Lebanon wait to cross the border with Syria through the Masnaa crossing in eastern Lebanon, on September 24, 2024. (Hassan Jarrah/AFP)

Well over 30,000 people, mainly Syrians, have crossed into Syria from Lebanon in the past 72 hours, the UN refugee agency says, amid escalating cross-border violence between Israel and Hezbollah.

About 80 percent of those crossing are Syrians and about 20% are Lebanese, says the UNHCR representative in Syria, Gonzalo Vargas Llosa, adding that about half are children and adolescents and that men are making the crossing in smaller numbers than women.

“They are crossing from a country at war to one that has faced a crisis conflict for 13 years,” an extremely difficult choice, he tells a news conference. “We will have to see over the next few days how many more do so.”

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