- As 100, 000 residents flee to Syria
Lebanon’s Prime Minister, Najib Mikati, has called for a ceasefire in the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.
Mikati made the appeal on Monday, during a meeting with French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot in Beirut.
“The key to the solution is to put an end to the Israeli aggression against Lebanon and to revive the appeal launched by the United States and France… in favour of a ceasefire,” a statement from his office quoted Mikati as saying.
Barrot arrived in Beirut Sunday, the first foreign diplomat to visit Lebanon since Israel escalated its strikes against Hezbollah strongholds.
Mikati added that the “priority is applying resolution 1701” of the United Nations Security Council, which ended the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah.
The French envoy’s visit came as a deadly strike hit a building in the centre of the Lebanese capital.
Israeli strikes have been largely concentrated on Hezbollah’s strongholds in the south and east of the country, and in South Beirut.
Meanwhile, the United Nations’ refugee said on Monday that no fewer than 100,000 people have fled to Syria from Lebanon due to Israeli air strikes, a figure that has doubled in two days.
“The number of people who have crossed into Syria from Lebanon fleeing Israeli airstrikes — Lebanese and Syrian nationals — has reached 100,000,” Filippo Grandi said on X.
“The outflow continues,” he warned.
He said his UN refugee agency (UNHCR) is “present at four crossing points, alongside local authorities and (the Syrian Red Crescent) to support new arrivals”.
The mass displacement into war-torn Syria began a week ago, on September 23, the UNHCR said at the weekend.
Israel has widened its attacks in recent days to include Lebanon as well as the Gaza Strip, targeting Iran’s regional ally, Hezbollah.
Strikes on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon killed it leader, Hassan Nasrallah, on Friday.
In the last week, Israeli bombardment has killed more than 700 people in Lebanon, including 14 paramedics over a two-day period, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.
By Friday, 30,000 people had crossed into Syria, according to the UNHCR.
Its representative in Syria, Gonzalo Vargas Llosa, said around 80 percent constitute Syrian nationals and 20 percent Lebanese.
“Most are women and children, although some males have crossed. About half are children and adolescents,” he told reporters.
He stressed the fleeing people were “arriving in a country that has been suffering from its own crisis and violence for more than 13 years, as well as from economic collapse”.
“People fleeing the bombing arrive in Syria exhausted, traumatized and in desperate need of help.”