UNHCR chief calls for 'urgent' support to Lebanon during war

BEIRUT: United Nations refugee chief Barham Salih on Wednesday called on the international community to provide urgent support to Lebanon, with a fifth of the country's population displaced by the Israel-Hezbollah war. 'I call upon the international community to provide urgent support and relief to Lebanon,' he said after meeting Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam. 'The humanitarian consequences of this war are immense, and I emphasise the need to spare civilians and civilian infrastructure from the ravages of attack. Lebanon does not deserve to be trapped in a recurring cycle of violence, it deserves support and stability.' He added that UNHCR has received 'a portion' of the $61 million it had appealed for during the war to support Lebanon in its 'unprecedented' displacement crisis, as more than a million people, or a fifth of the Lebanese population, are displaced by the conflict.
Of them, more than 140,000 are in government shelters. The $61 million is part of the Lebanon Flash Appeal, launched by UN chief Antonio Guterres last month to gather $308 million to help the country. War-ravaged Lebanon has been dealing with an unprecedented financial crisis since 2019 and was still reeling from the 2024 Israel-Hezbollah war when the Iran-backed group drew it into the Middle East conflict last month.
Two Israeli strikes on Wednesday hit vehicles south of Beirut, state media reported, while Hezbollah launched rockets at Israel, hours after Lebanon and Israel agreed to hold direct negotiations. The Israeli military also renewed its call for residents of a swathe of southern Lebanon to leave as it continues to bomb the area. Despite its ongoing attacks, Israel has not targeted the Lebanese capital since a series of attacks across the country on April 8 that killed more than 350 people.
Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported two separate Israeli strikes on two vehicles, both on the coastal highway around 20 kilometres south of Beirut and outside Hezbollah's traditional strongholds. A photographer saw a burned-out van with firefighters working to extinguish the blaze. Rescue workers were recovering human remains from the wreckage of the vehicle and its surroundings, and the army has established a security perimeter, causing a massive traffic jam on this major thoroughfare, the photographer added. NNA also reported several other strikes across southern Lebanon.
The Israeli military meanwhile said it had detected 'approximately 30 launches' by Hezbollah fighters towards Israel since the early hours, a spokesman said. Hezbollah said it launched rockets at 10 northern Israeli areas. Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah on Wednesday said the group's fighters 'are preventing enemy soldiers from seizing control' of the key southern town of Bint Jbeil, 5 kilometres north of Israel. The Israeli army had said on Tuesday that 10 soldiers were wounded in the town, which it says it encircled.
Wednesday's attacks come a day after Lebanon and Israel's ambassadors to the United States held their first direct talks in decades in Washington and agreed to hold further direct negotiations. The Lebanese envoy called for a ceasefire, but no truce was announced.
Hezbollah strongly rejected the talks. Israeli attacks on Lebanon have killed more than 2,000 people and displaced more than a million since March 2, according to Lebanese authorities. — AFP