Terrible, nine of Syrian refugees found frozen in Lebanon

News24xx.com -  Nine Syrian refugees who crossed into Lebanon have been found dead frozen in mountainous areas near the border with Syria.

The military said in a statement that the bodies was found on a human smuggling route in the early hours of Friday, January 19, 2018 after a snowstorm hit the Masnaa area, where Lebanon's largest official border crossing with Syria is located.

A statement said, "The army managed to rescue of six Syrian refugees, one of whom died in a hospital due to frostbite".

"The bodies was taken to a hospital in the area, and soldiers continued to search for other displaced people that trapped in the snow, to evacuate them and provide medical care for them."

The identity of Syrian refugees is not immediately known. According to some reports, at least one child was found among the corpses.

Two other Syrians were arrested and accused of smuggling people, the army added.

Temperatures fell on Friday when winter storms hit the Lebanese-Syrian border, and leaving more than 357,000 Syrian refugees that living in temporary tents in the Bekaa Valley, some 60km north of Masnaa.

Reported from the region, Syrian refugees "face many challenges during the winter months, we live in tents that made from plastic sheeting, which does not protect much from the cold and rain," said one resident.

Hammadi Chelbi, a Syrian refugee who has lived in the Bekaa Valley said that he escaped from the Syrian conflict in his first year, and said that he and his family live in misery.

"We have nothing but pain and suffering. We lost everything." he said as quoted from Aljazeera.

There are a million Syrian refugees that registered in Lebanon, although government officials estimate that the number is close to 1.5 million.

The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said they did not get the money that needed to help Syrian refugees in Lebanon to pass this winter.

Last year, UNHCR requested USD 228 million but they only received less than 60 percent of the aid expected.

 

 

 

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