BEIRUT: A snow storm that tossed heavy rain and hail on Lebanon’s coast and snow on the mountains and the Bekaa Valley added to the misery of Syrian refugees clustered inside tents in hundreds of gatherings across the country.
At least four Syrian refugee children in a tented settlement in Bar Elias in the Bekaa were rushed to hospital for hypothermia Wednesday, a source at the camp told The Daily Star.
Snow caused several tents to collapse, as refugees tried to keep warm inside their unheated shelters by burning lumber and waste paper.
“People are setting fire to anything they could find, including clothes, to keep warm. It is a most tragic situation,” the source said.
Several refugee families had their tents blown down by strong winds that battered Lebanon overnight and had to seek shelter with other refugees.
In Arsal, on Lebanon’s eastern border with Syria, the municipality equipped halls inside mosques in anticipation of a possible evacuation of refugees from their camps, sources said.
“Some refugees were treated for severe bruises they suffered when tents collapsed under the weight of snow,” a medical source in Arsal told The Daily Star.
Lebanon is hosting more than 1.2 million Syrian refugees who had fled the raging conflict at home, now in its fourth year. The majority live in make-shift camps in extremely harsh conditions without proper sanitation or heating.
The snow storm sweeping the Middle East since Tuesday evening has disrupted life in Jordan and Turkey, which also play host for large Syrian refugee communities living in camps on their borders with Syria.
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