ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Israeli airstrikes severed the highway between Beirut and Damascus early on Friday, a war monitor reported. The strikes led to the closing of one of the most important crossings between the two countries amid an influx of Lebanese citizens fleeing the war. Extensive damage caused by Israeli airstrikes around midnight put the road out of service, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a UK-based conflict monitor, reported. Thousands of displaced people from Lebanon used the road to enter Syria, fleeing from the recent Israeli operations in the country, SOHR said. The UN Refugee Agency in an update on Thursday described the crossing as "the primary entry point for most of the Syrian and Lebanese families crossing into Syria." This comes amid a recent escalation of Israeli operations in Lebanon targeting the Iran-backed Hezbollah group. Israel has intensified its attacks since October 7, when Palestinian Hamas militants launched a large-scale incursion into southern Israel. Iran launched around 180 missiles at Israeli targets on Tuesday. The strikes were in retaliation to Israel’s killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut on September 27. More than 300,000 people have fled Lebanon to Syria due to hostilities, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OHCA) reported on Thursday, citing national authorities. Ahead of anticipated ground operations by Israel into Beirut, many foreign missions have advised their citizens to leave Lebanon. Operations at the Beirut-Rafic Hariri International Airport were temporarily halted on Tuesday night at the time of the Iranian missile strike.
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