Jordan: Syrian refugee camps engulfed by snowstorm

A severe winter storm is making living conditions for hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees "unbearable", aid workers report. Wael Suleiman, Director of Caritas Jordan, said that in the massive Zaatari refugee camp many tents have been destroyed.

He said: "Everybody is suffering. We have intensified the distribution of blankets and stoves. Since the beginning of the refugee emergency, we have assisted 200 thousand people. But they keep coming, even with the snow and the cold, and we cannot meet the needs of all these women, children and men".

On 11 December, more than 700 new Syrian refugees arrived. In early December, the number of Syrian refugees present in Jordan had reached one million 322 thousand.

Refugees in the Lebanon face similar bitterly cold conditions, in makeshift camps in the Bekaa Valley and the district of Akkar, where at least 80 thousand people live in tents covered by snow.

Syrians fleeing the mountainous region of Qalamun, have had to pass through thick snowfalls to reach the safety of the camps. Even Maalula, with it ancient monastery of Saint Tecla, is now covered in snow. This is the village where, newly two weeks ago, rebels abducted a community of nuns who were looking after orphans.

Source: Caritas/Fides