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Hundreds Try to Flee Lebanon

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Written by News Editor

Friday, 09 May 2008

Hundreds of people flooded Lebanon's border crossings with Syria on Friday to escape the deadly violence that has shaken the country over the last three days. Crowds of men, women and children gathered at the Arida border crossing in the north and the Masnaa crossing in the east seeking to make their way out of Lebanon. Those fleeing the fighting -- which has threatened to plunge Lebanon into a fresh civil war -- included British, American, German and Cypriots as well as numerous Syrian laborers. Several Arab states have already begun evacuating their nationals from Lebanon, whose only international airport and the Beirut port have been shut down because of clashes between pro- and anti-government gunmen. "I have been here for more than two and a half hours and I lost two buttons on my shirt already because of the mayhem," said one traveler at the Arida crossing. Shelagh, a British woman in her 60s who would only give her first name, said she was on a 10-day visit to Lebanon when fierce clashes erupted Thursday. "I was supposed to leave Sunday and decided instead to leave today in case it got worse," she told AFP. "It seemed like the most sensible thing to do was to leave now." Rafik Hariri international airport has been virtually shut down since Wednesday as anti-government protests escalated with gunmen blocking the main road with burning tires and earth mounds. An airport official said all flights had been cancelled on Friday and it was unclear when traffic would resume, adding: "As soon as they open the road, the flights will resume."(AFP-Naharnet)

 

 

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