Many displaced individuals fleeing Israeli bombardments forced to sleep in the streets of Beirut, photo taken on Sept. 30, 2024. (Credit: Mohammad Yassine/L'Orient Today)
According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), more than one million Lebanese and refugees in Lebanon are trapped under Israeli bombardments: some are forced to flee, while others who wish to leave are unable to do so.
Since the outbreak of open war between Israel and Hezbollah on Sept. 23, over one million people have been displaced within Lebanon or have left the country, amounting to more than one-sixth of the population. ''There is a humanitarian challenge created by displacement and another challenge due to the inability to move,'' said Filippo Grandi.
''There are still 6,000 Syrian refugees in the south,'' an area once affected by cross-border fire and now the scene of combat. ''They have not been able to leave because the situation was not safe, and now they do not know where to go, and it is too late,'' explained Ivo Friesen, head of UNHCR in Lebanon. Other Syrian refugees, who fled their country due to war, are now making the reverse journey, escaping a new conflict.
''We estimate, and the numbers are surely higher, that 220,000 people have crossed the border between Lebanon and Syria, including 70% Syrians and 30% Lebanese,'' reported Mr. Grandi. However, on Friday, an Israeli airstrike cut the main route between Lebanon and Syria, which had been used recently by large crowds of displaced individuals.
''Bombing this route, effectively blocking many people who were seeking shelter in Syria, is another example of the obstacles facing the displaced,'' he continued. Grandi also announced that he would visit the Syrian side of the border on Monday and then travel to Damascus to discuss the fate of returning Syrian refugees with the authorities.
He intends to advocate for them to ''demonstrate [...] that they respect these people, their safety, and their ability to return home or go where they need to go,'' he said, as many Syrian refugees fear mistreatment upon their return.
In Lebanon, ''a thousand schools'' are ''full'' of displaced families, he added, with others living with relatives or on the streets ''due to airstrikes affecting many civilians and civilian infrastructure.''