UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi (right centre) and UNHCR staff meet a family crossing the border from Lebanon to Syria. © UNHCR/Houssam Hariri
DAMASCUS – The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, concluded an urgent visit to Syria on Tuesday to mobilize support for 250,000 people who have fled the airstrikes in Lebanon and crossed into Syria.
Grandi visited the border crossing at Jdeidet Yabous. He met with Lebanese refugees and Syrians who just crossed and who described how they escaped intense Israeli bombardments that terrified their children.
“Families I spoke with had run for their lives and have no idea what tomorrow may bring after an exhausting, dangerous journey to the border. They arrive with few means and in need of urgent relief,” said Grandi.
With the main road between the Lebanese and Syrian border posts destroyed by an airstrike, people are obliged to cross on foot with their children and whatever belongings they can carry.
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, along with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, other UN agencies and NGOs, is at the border providing water, food items and blankets. Teams are also supporting the new arrivals with legal assistance, documentation, and advising them on administrative and other procedures.
“The new influx of people comes at a time when millions of Syrians are living in hardship and themselves need humanitarian assistance. We must scale up support for the new arrivals and the vulnerable host communities receiving them,” said Grandi.
Grandi underlined the urgent need to mobilize humanitarian aid, as well as more substantial resources to support early recovery activities as stipulated in Security Council Resolutions.
In Damascus, Grandi also met in person and virtually with donors to launch an inter-agency emergency appeal for $324 million to help, for a six-month period, all those fleeing into Syria as well as the families hosting many of them.
Grandi met with President Bashar al-Assad and other senior government officials to discuss how best to support the new arrivals as they enter the country and at their final destinations.
“I appreciate the government has kept the borders open for everyone. Many Syrians have returned to the country, albeit under extreme duress because of the airstrikes,” said Grandi. “I stressed the importance of the government ensuring the safety and security of those arriving from Lebanon. I also briefed the President on efforts to mobilize humanitarian resources to support their well-being.”
UNHCR is following up with people across Syria and will be expanding its humanitarian programmes to address the needs of the new arrivals and the communities hosting them. Our legal support programmes will also be strengthened.
Grandi’s visit to Syria came immediately after he visited Beirut, Lebanon, amid the terrible displacement crisis engulfing the country following two weeks of intensifying Israeli airstrikes.
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