Middle East snow: Syrian refugees face desperate situation in freezing weather

Snowfall and gales in Lebanon s Bekaa Valley destroyed some Syrian refugees tents leaving people without shelter. Snow blocked roads in the Bekaa Valley, where more than 400,000 Syrian refugees are taking shelter in camps.

Mahmoud Moustapha, a Syrian refugee responsible for an unofficial camp where hundreds of refugees have set up tents, said: The whole situation is tragic. It s miserable and it s freezing. People have no heating. Look. There is no bread nor diesel. No cars can reach here.

The wintry weather mostly silenced the guns in Syria and grounded government warplanes because of bad visibility. Wednesday (7 January) was the first day in three years when no casualties of the conflict were reported in Syria.

The storm has bad effects and good ones, said Beibares Tellawi, an activist in the besieged city of Homs. We have no blankets, no heating but the regime stopped its airstrikes.