Over 21,000 fled Syria sectarian violence for Lebanon: UN

The United Nations refugee agency said Tuesday that more than 21,000 people had arrived in Lebanon this month fleeing the worst bloodshed in Syria since Bashar al-Assad’s country.

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A Syrian committee investigating the wave of sectarian killings in the heartland of the country’s Alawite minority said Tuesday that it had collected scores of accounts of the violence, with a particular finding.

The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) reported “21,637 new arrivals from Syria” into northern Lebanon, in a report citing figures provided by Lebanese authorities and the Lebanese Red Cross. For days from March 8, Syria’s Mediterranean coast was gripped by mass killings, mainly targeting the Alawite community, to which Assad’s family belongs.