GENEVA: Up to 30,000 Syrians have fled into Lebanon over the past 48 hours, the UN refugee agency said on Friday as violence swelled to new levels.

“Thousands of Syrians crossed into Lebanon yesterday. Reports vary between 8,500 and 30,000 people having crossed in the past 48 hours,” UNHCR spokeswoman Melissa Fleming told reporters in Geneva.

“People continue to arrive in Jordan, Turkey ... they are flooding into Lebanon and increasingly into Iraq,” she said.

The release of the refugee figures came as the UN agency's High Commissioner expressed concern for Syrians forced to flee the country and those displaced within Syria's borders.

“With the spread of deadly violence, I am gravely concerned for the thousands of Syrian refugees who have been forced to flee their homes,” saidAntonio Guterres.

“I fear for the civilians caught up in the violence in Damascus, including the large Iraqi population residing there.” —AFP