About a thousand people have fled the country to neighboring Syria since Israel’s massive air campaign against Lebanon began last week, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said on Monday.
It is believed that around 60% of them are Syrian refugees who previously fled to Lebanon during the civil war that broke out in their homeland in 2011.
About 40% are estimated to be Lebanese, the Geneva-based agency said.
Following the Israeli bombardment of Beirut that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Friday, the number of refugees arriving at the northwest border crossing near the Syrian city of Homs has doubled, according to the UN.
Most people are fleeing across the border, about 70 kilometers southwest of Beirut, near Damascus, the report said.
Many people waited at the border crossing for several days before Syria waived the $100 redemption fee “normally required of every Syrian upon entering Syria,” the UN said.
That rule has now been lifted for a week, which helps alleviate the situation, the statement said.
“UNHCR and its partners continue to scale up assistance to the new arrivals, including distributing relief supplies, food and water to those arriving at border crossings,” the report said.
According to the UN, about 60% of those crossing the border are minors.
There were an estimated 1.5 million Syrian refugees living in Lebanon before the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah escalated last week.
