Monitoring groups said that 36 Syrians, including 24 children, died during the past week as a result of the snowstorm hitting the region. The deaths include ten Syrian refugees who froze to death in Lebanon, 11 in Rural Damascus, nine in Aleppo, three in Deir Ezzor, two in Damascus and one in Dara’a. The monitoring groups pointed more than 850,000 civilians in East Ghouta do not have access to humanitarian and medical aid due to the suffocating siege imposed by regime forces for over two years. The Syrian interim government and Assistance Coordination Unit (ACU) have budgeted one million USD to help Syrian refugees inside Syria and neighboring countries cope with bitter cold hitting the region. They set up a joint task force to alleviate the suffering of the displaced persons and refugees through providing means of heating, tents, clothing and fuel. Khalil Halwani, head of the joint task force, said that “we began distributing fuel for heating to the needy households three days ago under special vouchers worth $20 US per family. He points out that the aid covered 40,000 displaced families in Aleppo, Idlib, Lattakia, Dara’a and Quneitra and in Bekaa and Arsal in Lebanon. (Source: Syrian Coalition)
