Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Beirut (Agenzia Fides) - The cold wave that has hit large regions of the Middle East in recent days has caused the first victims among the Syrian refugees in Lebanon. "Four people have died form hypothermia - confirms to Agenzia Fides Father Paul Karam, President of Caritas Lebanon - and concern increases, as a new drop in temperatures has been announced". The most serious situations are recorded in the Bekaa Valley, in the north of the Country, where refugee camps have been covered by snow, roads are blocked and the temperature has dropped below zero.
The war in Syria has forced at least three million Syrian refugees to seek refuge outside their own Country. "In Lebanon - reports Fr. Karam - official estimates speak of a million 200 thousand refugees registered, but according to our estimates the real figure reaches one million 600 thousand. We are trying to do everything possible to distribute food, blankets, stoves, fuel, warm clothes. The international community has put the Syrian conflict in the shadow. And the most defenseless, those who pay the highest price are children and young people, who account for nearly half of this immense multitude of refugees". (GV) (Agenzia Fides 14/01/2015)
