The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights

3 kids freeze to death in NW Syria, UN

Three children have died and two others are on the verge of death in northwestern Syria due to an intense, prolonged spell of bad weather and the plunging of temperatures that are affecting tens of thousands of displaced who have been stuck in IDP camps of tents and prefab structures, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and several other humanitarian organizations operating in northern Syria.

OCHA said that a child died after the roof of his lodgings collapsed under the snow in Qastal Miqdad.

His mother was also seriously injured and is currently in intensive care.

The UN office added that two children are also in hospital and at risk of dying from hypothermia in the Afrin area along the border with Turkey.

The humanitarian organization CARE has meanwhile reported the death of two other children due to the cold in the northern part of the Aleppo province.

A cold snap and bad weather conditions have been seen in recent days across the entire Middle East, hitting vulnerable populations especially badly in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Jordan.

In northern Syria alone the UN has for years documented the presence of about four million IDPs in urgent need of humanitarian aid.

In Lebanon, the financial crisis has worsened difficulties and the UN says that about 80% of the population now lives under the poverty threshold.

Over a million Syrian refugees now live in Lebanon, most of whom for over a decade since the beginning of the Syrian conflict.

There are also several hundred thousand Syrian refugees in Jordan.

 

 

Source: ANSAmed

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