©A Syrian family sit with their belongings in the back of a truck as they wait in a traffic jam in the southern Lebanese city of Sidon on September 23, 2024. The Israeli military on September 23 told people in Lebanon to move away from Hezbollah targets and vowed to carry out more "extensive and precise" strikes against the Iran-backed group. (Photo by Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP)
Some 500 people crossed from Lebanon to war-torn Syria, a Syrian security official told AFP on Tuesday. They are fleeing the deadliest Israeli bombardment since the civil war.
"Around 500 people crossed the border through the Qusayr and Dabousiya crossings between 4 PM (1300 GMT) and midnight" on Monday, the security official told AFP, requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.
"Vehicles were still crossing in the early hours of the morning, with people heading towards friends' and acquaintances' homes in the Homs countryside and in the city of Homs," he said.
Hezbollah has fought alongside Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces in the country's civil war and wields influence on both sides of the border.
Cab driver Osama Bilal, who often drives customers across the border, said he saw dozens of cars with Lebanese registration plates packed with passengers and their belongings at the Masnaa border crossing.
The crossing lies on the road to Damascus from Lebanon's eastern Bekaa Valley that was pounded by Israeli strikes on Monday.
Firas Makki, who fled from the Baalbeck district, was among those seeking refuge over the border.
"There is no town in the Baalbeck area that has not been targeted," he said, adding that his family was heading to a relative's house in Damascus.
"Most of the men stayed behind, but we left with the women and children because they're our priority, and the children were very scared," he said.
The intense bombardment that killed more than 550 people has stoked painful memories of Hezbollah's last war with Israel in 2006 that lasted a little over a month.
An estimated 250,000 Lebanese fled to Syria in 2006, with about 70,000 of them heading to third countries, according to United Nations figures.
"What we experienced during the (2006) war was nothing compared to what we saw yesterday in one single day," he said.
With AFP
"Around 500 people crossed the border through the Qusayr and Dabousiya crossings between 4 PM (1300 GMT) and midnight" on Monday, the security official told AFP, requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.
"Vehicles were still crossing in the early hours of the morning, with people heading towards friends' and acquaintances' homes in the Homs countryside and in the city of Homs," he said.
Hezbollah has fought alongside Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces in the country's civil war and wields influence on both sides of the border.
Cab driver Osama Bilal, who often drives customers across the border, said he saw dozens of cars with Lebanese registration plates packed with passengers and their belongings at the Masnaa border crossing.
The crossing lies on the road to Damascus from Lebanon's eastern Bekaa Valley that was pounded by Israeli strikes on Monday.
Firas Makki, who fled from the Baalbeck district, was among those seeking refuge over the border.
"There is no town in the Baalbeck area that has not been targeted," he said, adding that his family was heading to a relative's house in Damascus.
"Most of the men stayed behind, but we left with the women and children because they're our priority, and the children were very scared," he said.
The intense bombardment that killed more than 550 people has stoked painful memories of Hezbollah's last war with Israel in 2006 that lasted a little over a month.
An estimated 250,000 Lebanese fled to Syria in 2006, with about 70,000 of them heading to third countries, according to United Nations figures.
"What we experienced during the (2006) war was nothing compared to what we saw yesterday in one single day," he said.
With AFP
This Is Beirut
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