Two Syrian refugee children have been killed on Monday as Lebanese Hezbollah militant steps up its artillery bombardment on Wadi Hamid camps at the Syrian-Lebanese border amid pleas to provide human corridor for trapped refugees.
''The situation is catastrophic,'' refugees told Ammar Johmani reporter as more than 15.000 people live in Wadi Hamid where no medics or relief workers are available to rescue tens of wounded refugees. The refugees voiced fears of imminent massacre by Hezbollah.
Three refugees have been killed since the start of Hezbollah offensive to oust jihadists from their last foothold along the border.
U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) spokeswoman Lisa Abou Khaled said this week that only a small number of people had fled to Arsal town so far.
"UNHCR has only received confirmation ... that two Syrian families have arrived in the town of Arsal from the outskirts," she said.
Several thousand Syrian refugees occupy camps east of Juroud Arsal, a barren mountainous zone between Syria and Lebanon that has served as a base for Islamic State militants, jihadists and other rebels fighting in Syria's six-year civil war.
On Monday, the iran-backed Hezbollah said its militants seized a strategic valley from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham on Monday.
Hezbollah said it had advanced from several directions in the Wadi al-Kheil valley in Juroud Arsal, a barren mountainous border zone that has served as a base for militants linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State.
The advance gave Hezbollah control over what had been "the most important base for Nusra Front" in the area, Hezbollah's military media unit said in a statement.
The offensive, launched on Friday by Hezbollah and the Syrian army, has so far focused on militants from al Qaeda's former Syria branch, previously called the Nusra Front.
Hezbollah has reported rapid advances against Nusra fighters. The next target will be territory held by Islamic State militants, local media have reported.
The Syrian army and Hezbollah recaptured the area around the town of Fleita on the Syrian side of the border on Sunday, the Syrian state news agency SANA said.
The offensive has so far killed 19 Hezbollah combatants and more than 130 Sunni militants, according to a security source.
Hezbollah has played a critical part in previous campaigns against Sunni insurgents along Lebanon's border, part of its wider role backing President Bashar al-Assad in Syria's six-year-old civil war.
Hezbollah's role has been criticized by its Lebanese political opponents, including Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri, who is a Sunni.
Hezbollah on Sunday reached a deal with Saraya Ahl al-Sham to halt fighting in Juroud Arsal, spokesman of the group told Ammar Johmani.
The cessation of fighting began at early Sunday as the warring parties agreed that Saraya Ahl al-Sham will withdraw to al-Ruhaiba town in Eastern Qalamoun, Omar la-Sheikh said.
