HARANBUSH, Syria — Two
Syrian infant girls have died from harsh winter weather in northwest
Syria where snow and rain have destroyed the tents of hundreds of displaced families,
the
UN said Tuesday.
اضافة اعلان
"A seven-day-old girl and a
two-month-old girl have died from the cold in Idlib province," the UN's
humanitarian agency
OCHA told AFP.
According to an AFP correspondent in
northern Idlib, both children were announced dead on Tuesday.
They were taken to the Al-Rahman specialist
hospital in the Idlib village of Haranbush which has received an influx of
children in recent days amid sub-zero temperatures, the correspondent said.
Deaths due to the cold are an annual
occurrence in Syria's last major rebel enclave, which the UN says is home to
2.8 million displaced people.
Dwindling donor funds have already caused
dire shortages of medicine and equipment in hospitals and clinics in the
region, many of which are now at risk of closing down.
"Children are at risk of the cold. They
live in worn-out tents and there is a lack of winter clothes and fuel,"
said OCHA spokesman Patrick Nicholson.
"The problem is getting worse due to
the economic crisis, lack of resources to provide winter aid, and increased
needs."
According to OCHA, harsh weather in
January has destroyed at least 935 tents and damaged more than 9,000 others in
several displacement sites in Syria's north.
Unsafe heating methods, including exposed
rudimentary heaters, have often triggered deadly fires.
Since the start of the year, 68 fires were
reported, which resulted in two deaths and 24 injuries in northern Syria alone,
according to OCHA.
The Save the Children charity condemned the
latest deaths in a statement.
"It is incomprehensible that any child
should face the winter scared for their life," it said.
"These avoidable and tragic deaths are
a dreadful example of how children urgently need more humanitarian
support."
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