Thousands cross into Syria as Lebanese and foreign nationals flee Israeli strikes
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00:00At this border crossing in Syria, members of the Red Crescent provide aid to refugees
00:05from the war in Lebanon who have just crossed the border. Lebanese authorities have registered
00:11the crossing of hundreds of thousands of Lebanese and Syrian citizens into Syria in the last
00:16two weeks. For many, this is not the first time they've fled.
00:22We fled the war in Syria when ISIS entered Raqqa, taking nothing with us and came to
00:28Lebanon. Today, we left everything behind again and fled from the war, from Israel.
00:33We fled from one war to another. We started from scratch before, and now we're back at
00:38zero again.
00:40By land, air and sea, many Lebanese and foreign nationals with the means to flee the violence
00:46are doing so.
00:48On Wednesday, the main airport in Beirut was packed with people seeking seats on flights
00:53with Middle East Airlines, the only company still operating commercial flights from Lebanon.
00:59Others waited for chartered flights organized by their home countries.
01:04One British citizen said she's leaving at the behest of her daughter.
01:08I mean, I live near the American University, so it's one of the safest places. But at the
01:15moment, there are no safe places. So she worries. I mean, I can understand that, because I was
01:22in her place in 1982. My parents were here when Israel invaded, and I was in London.
01:28As it did during the Israeli shelling of Lebanon in 2006, Cyprus is coordinating with multiple
01:34countries to act as a midway point as they seek to evacuate their citizens. To this end,
01:40the British government has deployed hundreds of extra personnel to its military bases in
01:45Cyprus.
01:47France is sending a helicopter carrier to the eastern Mediterranean, as France has about
01:5120,000 citizens in Lebanon.