Bitter Winter Bites for Displaced Syrians
Freezing winter conditions have made the last few months particularly difficult for displaced Syrians living in camps in Idlib’s countryside.
Winters in the region are bitterly cold, with plenty of rain and snow. As temperatures dropped, people battled to clear the snow off their tents. They had no firewood to keep them warm or to bake bread, and water supplies turned into ice.
“This winter has been very harsh,” Ibrahim, an elderly resident of the Al-Karama camp told Damascus Bureau. “We have struggled to keep warm. Many of us have been forced to send our children out in search of firewood,” he continued.
“The dirt roads inside the camp are covered with mud and ice, which makes it difficult for us to go out in search of basic commodities such as food.”
Other refugee camps around Idlib, in Hama’s northern countryside and along the Syrian-Turkish border suffered similar conditions.
Some relief was provided by an initiative called A Touch of Warmth in which the Qatari Red Crescent donated diesel to hundreds of displaced families currently taking refuge in Idlib’s countryside.
“The campaign came as a response to the dire weather conditions the region was suffering,” campaign supervisor Ubayda al-Rifai told Damascus Bureau.
“It covered 33 villages which are home to more than 6,500 displaced families from villages in Sahl al-Ghab and Hama. We also distributed winter clothes to these families to help keep them warm.”
Damascus Bureau’s Ahmad al-Salim visited these camps and took the following photographs.
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