A new Israel airstrike hit the border post of Joussieh, where many Lebanese and Syrian people are crossing to escape the violence. “Humanitarian structures are also struck,” said Filippo Grandi, head of the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, in a social media post early Saturday. “Even fleeing (and taking care of...
The strike occurred in Hasbaya in Nabatiyeh, outside the area of operations of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). The building housed several journalists and other media personnel. Expressing concern, Deputy UN Spokesperson Farhan Haq, stressed: “When journalists, protected under international humanitarian law, are targeted, so too are our...
Speaking at the International Conference in Support of Lebanon’s People and Sovereignty held in Paris, Imran Riza expressed grave concerns for civilians. “As hostilities persist, humanitarian needs grow unchecked, and suffering intensifies,” he expressed. The Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, told the conference concrete action to end hostilities was need...
“Late last night, hundreds of people were reportedly displaced in Beirut and across the country following Israeli displacement orders identifying a social finance network affiliated with Hezbollah,” said Farhan Haq, UN Deputy Spokesperson, briefing journalists in New York on Monday. The scale of displacement has overwhelmed available shelters. “As of...
A press statement issued by the Mission, formally known as the UN Interim Force in Lebanon, said Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) “deliberately demolished” the watchtower and the fence surrounding the Marwahin site. “Yet again, we remind the IDF and all actors of their obligations to ensure the safety and security...
“Despite [Israel Defense Forces] demands to move from positions close to the Blue Line, a unanimous decision was taken by all UNIFIL Troop Contributing Countries and the UN Security Council, and our peacekeepers remain deployed in all their positions along the Blue Line,” said Andrea Tenenti, Spokesperson for the UN...
“Never in modern history have so many people faced starvation and famine as in Sudan today,” the UN Human Rights Council-appointed experts said. Zamzam camp in North Darfur, home to half a million IDPs, faces some of the direst conditions. Other IDP camps in El Fasher are also at risk...
World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that a response plan had been activated to strengthen surveillance, contact tracing and water sampling. The case was confirmed in Akkar, the country’s northernmost governorate. Speaking in Geneva late Wednesday, Tedros noted that the Lebanese health authorities had launched an oral...
According to the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), early morning on Wednesday (local time), peacekeepers in position near Kafer Kela observed an IDF Merkava tank firing at their watchtower. Two cameras were destroyed, and the tower was damaged. “Yet again we see direct and apparently deliberate fire on a...
“Today, Israeli airstrikes hit the town of Nabatieh in southern Lebanon, yet again… As the theatre and intensity of the exchanges of fire continue to expand, civilian suffering is reaching unprecedented heights,” said UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert in a statement. Five people were killed in the attack and there...
“What we’re hearing is that amongst the 22 people who were killed were 12 women and two children,” said Jeremy Laurence, spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). “We understand it was a four-storey residential building that was struck. With these factors in mind,...
Addressing the UNHCR Executive Committee in Geneva, High Commissioner Filippo Grandi said that nowhere is “uncertainty and anxiety more palpable at the moment than in Lebanon”. “Uncertainty clouds the lives of ordinary civilians in Lebanon today. Surely, if airstrikes continue, many more will be displaced and some will also decide...