Syrians in Lebanon flock to border crossing after Assad's fall
Syrians have crowded the Lebanese side of the Masnaa border crossing Sunday waiting to cross back into Syria after the fall of Bashar Assad.
Lebanon’s General Security closed the crossing overnight but reopened it in the morning, allowing Syrians to freely cross out of Lebanon while restricting their entry from Syria into the country.
Lebanese officials have long complained about the country’s population of refugees — the largest per capita in the world. As of Sept. 30, some 768,353 Syrian refugees were registered with the U.N. refugee agency in Lebanon, with hundreds of thousands more believed to be unregistered.
Many fled Lebanon after the escalation of the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in late September, but others crossed back from Syria into Lebanon in recent days as insurgents marched toward Damascus.
With Syrian officials having abandoned the Syrian side of the border, an Associated Press photographer who crossed from Lebanon into Syria said he saw some people taking the opportunity to loot the duty-free store between the two borders.
Source: Associated Press
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