GENEVA: The United Nations said Tuesday that tens of thousands of people had fled their homes in Lebanon since Monday, amid Israeli strikes.
“We are gravely concerned about the serious escalation in the attacks that we saw yesterday,” UN refugee agency spokesman Matthew Saltmarsh told reporters in Geneva.
“Tens of thousands of people were forced from their homes yesterday and overnight, and the numbers continue to grow,” he said.
Israeli air strikes killed at least 492 people on Monday, including 35 children, according to Lebanon’s health ministry, marking the deadliest bombardment in nearly two decades.
Longtime foes Hezbollah and Israel have been locked in near-daily cross-border exchanges of fire since Palestinian militant group Hamas staged an unprecedented attack on Israel last October 7.
Monday’s bombardment of Lebanon was by far the largest, not just in the past year, but since the war between Israel and the Iran-backed militant group in the summer of 2006.
“This is a region that has already been devastated by war and a country that knows suffering all too well,” Saltmarsh said.
“The toll on civilians is unacceptable.”
Ravina Shamdasani, spokeswoman for the UN rights office, also said the agency was “extremely alarmed by the sharp escalation of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah.
Shamdasani called on “all parties to immediately cease the violence and to ensure the protection of civilians.”
The UN children’s agency meanwhile decried the impact on young people in Lebanon.
“We are warning today that any further escalation in this conflict will be absolutely catastrophic for all children in Lebanon,” said Ettie Higgins, UNICEF Deputy Representative in Lebanon, speaking via video link from Beirut.
“Yesterday was Lebanon’s worst day in 18 years. This violence has to stop immediately, or the consequences will be unconscionable.”
‘Tens of thousands’ have fled strikes in Lebanon: UN
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‘Tens of thousands’ have fled strikes in Lebanon: UN
- Israeli air strikes killed at least 492 people on Monday, including 35 children
Washington presses Syria to shift from Chinese telecom systems
- Syria is exploring the possibility of procuring Chinese technology
- It was unclear whether the United States pledged financial or logistical support to Syria to do so
DAMASCUS: The United States has warned Syria against relying on Chinese technology in its telecommunications sector, arguing it conflicts with US interests and threatens US national security, according to three sources familiar with the matter.
The message was conveyed during an unreported meeting between a US State Department team and Syrian Communications Minister Abdulsalam Haykal in San Francisco on Tuesday. Washington has been coordinating closely with Damascus since 2024, when Syria’s now President Ahmed Al-Sharaa ousted longtime leader Bashar Assad, who had a strategic partnership with China.
Syria is exploring the possibility of procuring Chinese technology to support its telecommunications towers and the infrastructure of local Internet service providers, according to a Syrian businessman involved in the procurement talks.
“The US side asked for clarity on the ministry’s plans regarding Chinese telecom equipment,” said another source briefed on the talks.
But Syrian officials said infrastructure development projects were time-critical and that Damascus was seeking greater vendor diversity, the source added.
SYRIAN OFFICIALS CITE US EXPORT CONTROLS AS TELECOMS BARRIER
Syria is open to partnering with US firms but the matter was urgent and export controls and “over-compliance” remained an issue, according to person familiar with the meeting in San Francisco.
A US diplomat familiar with the discussions told Reuters that the US State Department “clearly urged Syrians to use American technology or technology from allied countries in the telecoms sector.”
It was unclear whether the United States pledged financial or logistical support to Syria to do so.
Responding to Reuters questions, a US State Department spokesperson said: “We urge countries to prioritize national security and privacy over lower-priced equipment and services in all critical infrastructure procurement. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.”
The spokesperson added that Chinese intelligence and security services “can legally compel Chinese citizens and companies to share sensitive data or grant unauthorized access to their customers’ systems” and promises by Chinese companies to protect customers’ privacy were “entirely inconsistent with China’s own laws and well-established practices.”
China has repeatedly rejected allegations of it using technology for spying purposes.
The Syrian Ministry of telecommunications told Reuters any decisions related to equipment and infrastructure are made “in accordance with national technical and security standards, ensuring data protection and service continuity.”
The ministry said it is also prioritizing the diversification of partnerships and technology sources to serve the national interest.
Syria’s telecom infrastructure has relied heavily on Chinese technology due to US sanctions imposed on successive Assad governments over the civil war that grew from a crackdown on anti-government protests in 2011.
Huawei technology accounts for more than 50 percent of the infrastructure of Syriatel and MTN, the country’s only telecom operators, according to a senior source at one of the companies and documents reviewed by Reuters. Huawei did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Syria is seeking to develop its private telecommunications sector, devastated by 14 years of war, by attracting foreign investment.
In early February, Saudi Arabia’s largest telecom operator, STC, announced it would invest $800 million to “strengthen telecommunications infrastructure and connect Syria regionally and internationally through a fiber-optic network extending over 4,500 kilometers.”
The ministry of telecommunications says that US restrictions “hinder the availability of many American technologies and services in the Syrian market,” emphasizing that it welcomes expanding cooperation with US companies when these restrictions are lifted.
Syria has inadequate telecommunications infrastructure, with network coverage weak outside city centers and connection speeds in many areas barely exceeding a few kilobits per second.
