BEIRUT
A Syrian woman has frozen to death in a Lebanese refugee camp, a relative said Thursday, amid an ongoing cold snap that recently hit the Middle East region.
Rama Tahran, 50, died in a refugee camp in Lebanon's eastern city of Baalbek early Thursday after temperatures fell below zero, one of her relatives told The Anadolu Agency.
Tahran could not afford adequate heating after the UN cut financial aid to her family, according to her relative.
Tahran's death brings the number of Syrian refugees to die as a result of the ongoing cold spell to 11, including seven children, a medical source has said.
Snowstorm "Zeina," also known as "Huda," struck a handful of Middle Eastern countries last week, prompting emergency alerts from local authorities.
Syria, which shares a border with Lebanon, has been in the throes of civil war since mid-2011, when a peaceful uprising against President Bashar al-Assad escalated into an armed insurrection following a violent government crackdown.
In the more than three years since, some 1.2 million Syrians have sought refuge in Lebanon, according to the UN refugee agency.
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