We offer prayer for everyone being affected by this powerful storm, many of whom are not prepared for or protected from this type of event.
A rare and powerful winter storm left Jerusalem covered in snow Friday forcing police to block access to and from the city.
In Cairo Egypt, suburbs and the port city of Alexandria were blanketed with white snow which covered St. Catherine’s Monastery on Mount Sinai.
In Syria’s contested northern city of Aleppo, soldiers and rebels took a break from fighting as a thick layer of snow blanketed deserted streets while temperatures hovered around zero. An anti-government activist said it has been quieter than it has been in more than a year since the storm started late Tuesday saying, “All the fighters are cold and hiding.” Residents in the city were relying on diesel or wood heaters although some had only blankets.
The cold weather was part of a storm, named Alexa, which has been pounding much of Lebanon and parts of northern Syria since Wednesday. The snow has added another layer of misery on the already grim existence of many of the more than 2 million Syrians who have fled the civil war raging in their homeland. Many Syrian refugees in Lebanon only have flimsy plastic tents to protect them from the weather.
Israelis were told over media and public broadcasts not to enter or leave Jerusalem and some 1,500 people were evacuated from stranded vehicles overnight said police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld.
In the West Bank and Gaza, U.N. relief teams offered emergency services to the worst hit communities. Gaza, experiencing its first snow in over a decade, had to evacuate more than 500 people from their homes according to Hamas spokesman Ihab Ghussein.
Egypt’s state MENA news agency said the country’s two Mediterranean ports near the city of Alexandria and two ports on the Red Sea remained closed for the third consecutive day to avoid possible accidents.