GENEVA - Up to 30,000 Syrian refugees mayhave crossed into Lebanon in the past 48 hours, in what would bea sharp increase of people fleeing fighting in the country, theUnited Nations refugee agency UNHCR said on Friday.Syria's borders remain open, it said, but the agency was notable to confirm reports Syrian rebels took control of two majorcrossings on the border with Turkey and the main Abu Kamal poston the border with Iraq on Thursday.
"We have reports we are trying to verify that thousands ofSyrians overnight and yesterday crossed into Lebanon. So farreports vary between 8,500 and 30,000 people who may havecrossed in the past 48 hours," Melissa Fleming, chiefspokeswoman of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR),told a news briefing in Geneva."Borders remain open. People continue to arrive in Turkey.People continue to arrive in Jordan. People continue to floodinto Lebanon and increasingly into Iraq," she said.