U.N.: Up to 30,000 Syrians Flee into Lebanon in 48 Hours
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
Up to 30,000 Syrians have fled into Lebanon over the past 48 hours, the U.N. refugee agency said on Friday.
"Thousands of Syrians crossed into Lebanon yesterday. Reports vary between 8,500 and 30,000 people having crossed in the past 48 hours," UNHCR spokeswoman Melissa Fleming told reporters in Geneva.
"People continue to arrive in Jordan, Turkey ... they are flooding into Lebanon and increasingly into Iraq," she said.
In Thursday's fighting, more than 300 people were killed, the majority of whom were civilians, making it the heaviest toll yet in 16 months of fighting, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Friday.
The release of the refugee figures came as the U.N. agency's High Commissioner expressed concern for Syrians forced to flee the country and those displaced within the country's borders.
"With the spread of deadly violence, I am gravely concerned for the thousands of Syrian refugees who have been forced to flee their homes," he said.
"I fear for the civilians caught up in the violence in Damascus, including the large Iraqi population residing there."
The U.N. agency said it was unable today to give an exact number of displaced people in Syria but estimated last week that "one million people may have been forced to flee inside the country since the conflict began".
Lebanese authorities were on Friday scrambling to brace more Syrian refugees in light of the influx.
An Nahar daily quoted informed sources as saying that more than 20,000 have crossed the Masnaa border in eastern Lebanon alone since Wednesday.
Most of them came from Damascus which witnessed a dramatic situation following the bombing that killed three of Syrian President Bashar Assad's top aides.
The Syrian army resorted to tank fire in the capital for the first time in its efforts to root out rebel fighters a day after the blast.
Social Affairs Minister Wael Abou Faour told An Nahar that some refugees came on foot from illegal crossings on the mountains that separate eastern Lebanon from Syria.
Abou Faour said he asked Premier Najib Miqati to give instructions to Education Minister Hassan Diab to shelter the refugees at public schools.
Two schools in al-Marj and Majdel Anjar were opened for them on Thursday night ahead of finding an alternative location, the minister told Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3).
An Nahar also quoted a military source as saying that the army command has given instructions since the first refugees began arriving in Lebanon to provide them with humanitarian aid.
20 July 2012, 08:53
61
26,900. It is going to be complicated for Lebanon to support them! Lebanon desperately needs the UN to help us, and Syrians need to know what it means to be a refugee from their part. I also am not sure we have enough Army/Police to make sure they are confined to their refugee camp.
20 July 2012, 09:11
18
I don't remember the Syrians "confining" the Lebanese "to their refugee camps" when over 50,000 Lebanese refugees crossed the border into Syria in the 2006 war.
Seriously, your name, the fool, suits you so well.
Quoting your sorry a** "and Syrians need to know what it means to be a refugee from their part."
Might I suggest while Syrians "know what it means to be a refyuee", you may take the time and learn what it is like to be human.
20 July 2012, 09:10
512
the above 2 posts denote clear humanitarian feelings from fpm :)
the syrian people received the lebanese in times of hardship, and it is fitting we do the same when required, especially they are not responsible for what theri regime did to us as most of them do not support that regime.
I am with asking the UN for assistance, but with the state of the relationship with the UN due to the comments from M8.....
20 July 2012, 09:43
47
I am totally with receiving my fellow shia lebanese but not iranians and iranian lovers.
there are no double standards at all if you know how to read.
iranians are not welcome in Lebanon. whether you like it or not, this is the Lebanese sentiment.
20 July 2012, 09:14
35
by the way the problem is that these refugees are going to the south and when the war with israel starts......
20 July 2012, 09:46
04
OK ya FT :) only time will show us the reality, and according to how things are developping, it is not going to be for long.
fpm will make us Lebanese pay for their covering up of the deployment of long range missiles in our mountains, while their leaders were cashing in millions for hizbushaitan for that cover up.
we will remind each other of this conversation in 2 months time :)
20 July 2012, 10:10
70
We have enough Sunni filth already. Send the infested scum to Saudi Arabia and Qatar, or even to the filthy Israel of the filthier Turkey. WE HAVE ENOUGH SUNNI FILTH OF OUR OWN ALREADY. LEAVE LEBANON FRIGGIN ALONE.
20 July 2012, 17:12
12
Racist comment. Go read. Disgusting and shameful. You should not even have the right to vote until you educate yourself and get rid of such sectarian statements.
20 July 2012, 21:05
00
If Sunni = filthy and crazy, what seems to be your problem? Go clean them instead of pretending you are full of it.
20 July 2012, 10:13
14
FT you are seriously ill: this comment of yours confirms it.
since you do agree there will be war soon, isn't time for you to realize that hizbushaitan, iran and fpm actions are drawing this war on us?
the israelis want to wage war on us for what else?
if you have a shred of common sense, please reply to this comment properly and give us your analysis.
hizbushaitan and fpm are driving Leabnon to its destruction.
20 July 2012, 10:17
23
saying things how they are is not tehwil.
I am not responsible for what fpm and hizbushaitan are doing to my country. rather it is the likes of you who are creating desperation to our citizens with what your shabiha and those of hizbushaitan are doing daily in this country and causing so many hardships as well as causing the destruction of my beloved country.
check your facts first you sick person in denial and unable to accept the fact that your actions are causing the country.
and you know what is worse still: you still follow these a....les.
wake up.
20 July 2012, 10:49
24
definately you are sick for issuing such a comment!!!
you never witnessed such chaos?
- what about 18 months in downtown, with all the thug like activities?
- what about the invasion of Beirut?
- ....
your memory has surely some issues to the least.....
20 July 2012, 11:02
43
Look at you fools... M8 and m14 and next thing u know we will have FM1
...
Hezbollah has shown it has foreign interests ahead of Lebanon ! Therefore they are traitors .
20 July 2012, 17:07
12
Just because they criticize Hezbollah, does not mean they sympathize with Israel. That is Hezb propaganda.
That being said, some M14 officials do blindly sympathize with the US.
20 July 2012, 12:31
14
FT, Don't u understand that if hezbollah was no more, and the army had all its weapons then no1 would touch us right?
it is only bcoz of Hez that israel wants to bomb the Khara out of us.. and they are "cooking" up excuses and evidence now since the Bulgaria bombing so they can have a reason for this...
what can i say... thanks thanks hezbollah..
20 July 2012, 17:11
21
I disagree with you both. With or without Hezb, Israel would be a threat because leaked documents and comments from senior officials prove they are interested in some of our resources.
That being said, FT, the presence of Hezb is actually weakening Lebanon, because it is a non-state party taking on the duty of the state without the consent of the Lebanese people, and that actually leads to division. They are not the only problem in Lebanon, but its presence adds to our problems (although this only applies to after the year 2000).
20 July 2012, 13:00
51
Could I ask that Naharnet review the comments for decency before they get posted? The comments posted above are expletive, overly emotionally charged and, above all, extremely embarrassing.
I thought this was a forum for constructive criticism, and the free voicing of opinions. Clearly not. Sadly, the ill-informed comments above are indicative of the difficulties we face as a nation.
20 July 2012, 16:13
11
@Ezzat, don't worry; they delete what they feel like deleting whenever they feel like deleting it, without any rhyme or reason. It depends on whether or not the moderator on duty is M8 or M14 and whether or not they've taken their nap after their milk bottle and removed the pacifier from their mouth. Just don't hold your breath that whatever they do will suite you.
20 July 2012, 16:16
04
I can't wait for the comedy hour when FPM begins to distance itself from the Party of God and downplay the aberrant alliance it had with them.
20 July 2012, 17:13
02
I can't stop laughing, this post from BSThrower is the funniest post I have ever read!!! EVER!!! OMG, LOL, LMFAO. You are so funny, please don't change K? K.
We all owe BSThrower so much gratitude for "containing" the mass panic, which would have occurred had he acknowledged ("especially online") the reality of the current situation.
