Lebanese flee conflict into Syria as UN warns of displacement crisis
The conflict between Israel and the Iran-backed Lebanese armed group Hezbollah is breaking up families, as people flee Lebanon for safety and a better future. Some 270,000 residents of Lebanon had fled across the border into Syria, the United Nations refugee agency chief said, as he warned on Monday the world needed better solutions for the unprecedented displacement crisis it's now facing. - REUTERS
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00:00Bombings and airstrikes are forcing hundreds of thousands of people to flee Lebanon,
00:05as the Israeli military battles the Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah in the ongoing conflict.
00:10At the Masna border crossing between Lebanon and Syria, Amal Ismail's 18-year-old son
00:16is leaving to seek a future she says Lebanon can no longer offer.
00:21It's a painful farewell for Ismail.
00:24My son, my son, she says. This country has no future. It left nothing for the youth.
00:32Her younger daughter plans to leave when she reaches 18 too.
00:38This is my only brother. I don't have any other but him. He went to continue his education and
00:44I will follow him after four years. There's no future in Lebanon anymore.
00:50These families are all also leaving for Syria. The crater they have to cross,
00:56caused by an Israeli strike on October 4, is a stark reminder of the dangers they now face
01:01in Lebanon. This father of five says his family decided to leave after surviving some near misses.
01:08I have children. You can't just stay where you are. We tried going to another place.
01:13We moved from Baalbek, where they hid near my house. We had to leave again. I have children.
01:18We can't stay. We are going to Syria because it could be safer than where we are.
01:25The United Nations Humanitarian Response Agency said on Saturday that more Lebanese have now
01:30been displaced than during the last major war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006.
01:36Around one million people fled their homes back then.
01:40On Monday, the head of the United Nations Refugee Agency said 270,000 people had
01:46already fled Lebanon for Syria and warned the displacement crisis could get worse.
01:51Syria has opened the doors to all those fleeing Lebanon. Both Lebanese refugees
01:57and Syrian returnees in Syria need immediate relief assistance.
02:02Filippo Grandi was speaking in Geneva at the annual UN Human Rights Commission meeting.
02:08He reported an unprecedented 123 million people now displaced around the world by conflicts,
02:14persecution, poverty and climate change.
02:18Grandi urged countries to rethink their border measures,
02:21saying tightening them is an ineffective move and sometimes unlawful.