Thousands cross into Syria as Lebanese and foreign nationals flee Israeli strikes

FRANCE 24 English

Visit our website: http://www.france24.com  Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English  Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/France24_en

Transcript

00:00At this border crossing in Syria, members of the Red Crescent provide aid to refugees

00:05from the war in Lebanon who have just crossed the border. Lebanese authorities have registered

00:11the crossing of hundreds of thousands of Lebanese and Syrian citizens into Syria in the last

00:16two weeks. For many, this is not the first time they've fled.

00:22We fled the war in Syria when ISIS entered Raqqa, taking nothing with us and came to

00:28Lebanon. Today, we left everything behind again and fled from the war, from Israel.

00:33We fled from one war to another. We started from scratch before, and now we're back at

00:38zero again.

00:40By land, air and sea, many Lebanese and foreign nationals with the means to flee the violence

00:46are doing so.

00:48On Wednesday, the main airport in Beirut was packed with people seeking seats on flights

00:53with Middle East Airlines, the only company still operating commercial flights from Lebanon.

00:59Others waited for chartered flights organized by their home countries.

01:04One British citizen said she's leaving at the behest of her daughter.

01:08I mean, I live near the American University, so it's one of the safest places. But at the

01:15moment, there are no safe places. So she worries. I mean, I can understand that, because I was

01:22in her place in 1982. My parents were here when Israel invaded, and I was in London.

01:28As it did during the Israeli shelling of Lebanon in 2006, Cyprus is coordinating with multiple

01:34countries to act as a midway point as they seek to evacuate their citizens. To this end,

01:40the British government has deployed hundreds of extra personnel to its military bases in

01:45Cyprus.

01:47France is sending a helicopter carrier to the eastern Mediterranean, as France has about

01:5120,000 citizens in Lebanon.

Category

Transcript

Recommended