Watch: Displaced Lebanese fleeing Israeli bombardment cross into Syria

Families fleeing the escalating conflict in Lebanon poured into Syria in growing numbers, waiting for hours in heavy traffic to reach the relative safety of another war-torn country. U.N. officials estimated that thousands of Lebanese and Syrian families had already journeyed. Those numbers are expected to grow as Israel targets southern and eastern Lebanon in an aerial bombardment that local officials say has killed more than 700 people this week, at least a quarter of them women and children.

Beginning on Monday, lines of buses and cars extended for several kilometres (miles) from the Syrian border, and some families were seen making the journey on foot. Once in Syria, people waited hours more to be processed by overwhelmed border officials, and relief workers handed out food, water, mattresses, and blankets.