At least 370.000 people, mostly women and children, have been displaced due to the fighting in Syria since November 27 and the rapid advance of Islamist groups in Syria, said the spokesman for the UN Secretary General, Stefan Dižarik, this evening.
"Since the intensification of the conflict, at least 370.000 men, women and children, boys and girls have been displaced, including 100.000 who have repeatedly fled their homes," Dižarik said.
In the previous UN balance sheet, there were 280.000 displaced people.
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Lebanon's General Directorate of Security announced today that the country is closing all land border crossings to Syria except the main one connecting Beirut with the Syrian capital Damascus.
The decision to close the crossing was made a few hours after an Israeli airstrike damaged the Arida crossing towards Syria in northern Lebanon, a few days after it was opened.
On platform X, it was announced that the crossings will be closed until further notice for the safety of passengers.
The only crossing that will be open is Masna in Lebanon's Beka Valley in the east.
The Israeli military said the fighter jet carried out the attack on the crossing, adding that it was used to transfer ammunition to the Lebanese Hezbollah.
The Lebanese News Agency reported that the attack caused a lot of material damage and blocked the road.
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Jordan's interior minister announced today that Jordan has closed its border with neighboring Syria, where extremist Islamists are waging an offensive aimed at ousting President Bashar al-Assad.
Minister Mazen al-Faraja announced that the Jaber border crossing leading to the Nasib crossing in Syria will be closed due to the security situation in the south of that country.
In Syria, Islamist-led rebels have been making rapid progress in recent days, taking over several key towns from the Syrian army.
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Israeli forces stormed the Kamal Advan Hospital in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip last night and drove out some employees and displaced people before withdrawing, the facility's director said today.
The attack began with a series of airstrikes on the west and north sides of the hospital followed by intense gunfire, director Husam Abu Safija said, Reuters reported on its website.
Soldiers who entered the hospital reportedly ordered all employees, patients and displaced persons out into the courtyard before allowing them to return hours later, but some, including the Indonesian surgical team and some displaced persons, were ordered to leave.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on the incident.
This afternoon, the Gaza health ministry, in a call for help, accused the Israeli army of committing a "war crime" at Kamal Advan hospital with "all forms of killing and violence in and around it".
In addition, it was stated that "the wounded who remained inside are in critical condition and need urgent medical care."
The ministry said only half of the 37 hospitals and clinics in the war-torn territory remained operational, but they lacked basic equipment, people and medical and fuel supplies.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said today that Israeli forces bombed Kamal Advan Hospital early Thursday apparently without warning.
"It is extremely worrying and should never happen," WHO spokesman Rick Peppercorn told a briefing in Geneva via video link. He added that the hospital is now "minimally functional".
Residents of Beit Lahia said the army blew up several houses last night near the hospital. Palestinians say Israel is scrambling to mark the buffer zone as residents leave. Israel denies this.
The country accuses Hamas of using civilian buildings, including hospitals and schools, as cover for its operations in the 14-month war in Gaza. Hamas denies this and accuses Israel of random bombings and attacks.
Kamal Advan Hospital has found itself in the path of renewed Israeli military operations in northern Gaza, where, according to Israel, extremists are regrouping.
Gaza's health ministry said three main hospitals in the northern end of the territory are barely functioning and have been targeted since Israel sent tanks to Beit Lahia and the nearby towns of Beit Hanun and Jabalia in October.
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The Israeli army (IDF) announced that, due to the development of the situation in Syria, it is "reinforcing air and ground forces in the area of the Golan Heights", a strategically important territory that it took over from Syria and occupied in 1967.
"Based on the ongoing assessment of the situation since yesterday at the General Staff and the Northern Command, and in light of the development of the internal conflict in Syria, the IDF is increasing air and ground forces in the Golan Heights area," the message published on Telegram states.
IDF forces are deployed along the border, monitoring the development of the situation and are ready for all scenarios, both offensive and defensive, it added.
"The IDF will not tolerate threats near the Israeli border and will prevent any threat against the State of Israel," the statement said.
After occupying the area during the 1967 war, Israel unilaterally annexed the Golan Heights in 1981.
The Golan Heights provides a significant strategic advantage to whoever controls it, allowing control over Lebanon, Syria and Israel, and is still considered occupied Syrian territory by the United Nations.
The first administration of Donald Trump changed the position of the USA by recognizing the Golan Heights as part of Israel, and this position was not reversed during the administration of Joe Biden, the Guardian reports.
The Palestinian Wafa news agency reports that four people were wounded by Israeli security forces after clashes broke out during a raid in the Israeli-occupied West Bank town of Beit Furik.
Also, a large number of people gathered at the funeral of a 23-year-old Palestinian who was killed by Israeli forces on Friday morning. Wafa reports that Mustafa Mishi, who previously spent two years in Israeli custody, was killed during a raid in the Balata camp, east of Nablus.
Syrian ruler Assad is under enormous pressure, and due to the war against Ukraine, Russia cannot easily increase the level of support for Damascus. But Moscow will not let Assad down: Syria is too important for the Kremlin, analysts say.
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Syrian troops and their Iran-backed allies have "suddenly" withdrawn from the eastern city of Deir Ezzor and its environs, war monitors said, after a rebel offensive dealt a series of blows to the government.
"Syrian regime forces and commanders of Iran-backed allied groups suddenly withdrew from the city of Deir Ezzor and its surroundings, and columns of soldiers headed towards central Syria," Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told AFP.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he hoped Syrian rebels would continue to advance against President Bashar al-Assad's forces, Reuters reports.
Speaking to reporters after Friday prayers, Erdogan said he still had not received a positive response from Assad to his invitation earlier this year to meet and normalize relations.
"The opposition's advance continues at the moment... Our hope is that this march in Syria will proceed without problems," Erdogan said.
The leader of the US-backed Syrian Kurdish forces said the Islamic State has taken control of some areas in eastern Syria.
"Due to recent developments, the activity of Islamic State mercenaries has increased in the Syrian desert, in the south and west of Deir al-Zor and the villages around Raqqa," Mazlum Abdi said at a press conference, according to Reuters.
Iran intends to send missiles and drones to Syria and increase the number of its military advisers to support President Bashar al-Assad in his fight against rebels, a senior Iranian official told Reuters.
"It is very likely that Tehran will have to send military equipment, missiles and drones to Syria... Tehran has taken all necessary steps to increase the number of its military advisers in Syria and deploy forces. Currently, Tehran is providing intelligence and satellite support to Syria," " said the official, who requested anonymity.
The director of the Kamal Advan hospital in northern Gaza said that Israel carried out several attacks that hit the facility, one of the last functional health centers in the area, reports Agence France-Presse.
"The hospital was targeted by a series of airstrikes on its northern and western sides, with intense and direct fire," Hossam Abu Safije said, adding that four staff members were killed and that there were no surgeons on site.
The Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip, which is controlled by Hamas, announced today that at least 44.612 people have died in the Palestinian territory since the start of the war with Israel.
It is said that 32 people died in the past 24 hours.
At least 105.834 people have been injured in the Gaza Strip since the war began on October 7.
Fighting between rebels and Syrian forces has displaced 280.000 people since Nov. 27 and Islamist groups' rapid advance in Syria, the United Nations said today, expressing fears that the number could rise to 1,5 million.
"The figure we have is 280.000 people as of November 27. That's an updated figure as of last night. It doesn't include the number of people who fled Lebanon during the recent escalation of fighting between Hezbollah and Israel," the Director of Emergency Coordination of the World Program for Refugees said today. food Samer Abdel Jaber, at a press conference in Geneva.
The mass displacement of the population has been happening since the rebels led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS) launched a blitz offensive just over a week ago.
The offensive was launched as a fragile truce was established in neighboring Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah, a pro-Iranian movement linked to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Because of the war in Lebanon, hundreds of thousands of people fled to Syria.
The World Food Program has warned that new mass displacements of the population inside Syria, which have been taking place more than 13 years since the start of the civil war in the country, add to "years of suffering".
Abdeljaber said the World Food Program and partner humanitarian organizations want to provide pathways for aid to be sent to communities in need.
"It's a crisis on top of a crisis," he added, noting that additional funding is urgently needed to help meet the great needs to come.
"If the situation continues to develop at the current rate, we expect about 1,5 million people to be displaced and in need of our support in Syria," the official said.
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The leader of the Islamist rebel alliance, which is leading a lightning offensive in Syria, said that the goal of their campaign is to overthrow the government of President Bashar al-Assad, reports AFP.
"When we talk about goals, the goal of the revolution remains the overthrow of this regime. We have the right to use all available means to achieve this," Abu Muhammad al-Golani said in an interview with CNN.
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The military commander of the rebels, Hassan Abdel Ghani, said on Telegram that "our forces continue to march safely towards the city of Homs", reports AFP.
He added that "hundreds" of fighters, who were forced to leave Homs several years ago after the government recaptured it, had returned to "deter Assad's aggression against their city."
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on a network of sources in Syria, said 826 people, mostly fighters but also 111 civilians, had been killed in the country since the violence began last week. This is the most intense fighting since 2020 in the civil war that began with the suppression of pro-democracy protests in 2011.
The Syrian war monitoring group said that the rebels are only five kilometers away from the third largest city of Homs, after capturing two strategic towns on the road that connects it to Hama, reports Agence France-Presse.
"Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and allied factions have come within five kilometers of the outskirts of Homs after capturing the towns of Rastan and Talbiseh," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, adding that control of Homs would allow the rebels to "cut off the main road leading to the Syrian coast," which is a strong stronghold of Assad's Alawite minority.
Russian bombing overnight destroyed the Rustan Bridge on the key M5 highway to prevent rebels from using this main road to the city of Homs, a Syrian military officer told Reuters.
"At least eight attacks were carried out on the bridge," he added. Government forces are working to strengthen their positions around Homs with the help of fresh reinforcements, he added.
Rebels led by the Islamist faction Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) have vowed to advance on the central city of Homs, which is a hub connecting the capital Damascus with the north and Assad's coastal stronghold.
"Your time has come," the rebels said in an online post, calling on Homs residents to join the revolution.
On Friday morning, Israeli airstrikes hit two border crossings between Lebanon and Syria, Lebanese Transport Minister Ali Hamieh said.
Syria's state news agency Sana reported that the Arida border crossing with Lebanon was out of order due to the attack.
Israel's military said overnight it targeted arms transfer centers and infrastructure on the Syrian side of the Lebanese border, saying the routes were used by the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah to smuggle weapons.
Thousands of people fled the central Syrian city of Homs overnight and into the morning on Friday, war monitors and residents reported, as rebel forces sought to expand their lightning offensive against government forces southward.
Rebels have already seized the key cities of Aleppo in the north and Hama in central Syria, dealing a devastating blow to President Bashar al-Assad, nearly 14 years after protests against him swept through Syria.
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The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said thousands of people began fleeing Thursday evening toward Syria's western coastal regions, a government stronghold.
According to Reuters, a resident of the coastal region said thousands of people had arrived there from Homs, fearing a rapid advance by the rebels.
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