Refugees in northern Syria and Iraq suffer as region sees first snowfall in 25 years

Parts of Deir ez Zour province in the north of Syria have not seen snow in more than a quarter of a century, and across the border in Iraq displaced Yazidis are dealing with more than 50cm of snow

Heavy snowfall and freezing conditions in the northern Syrian province of Deir Ez Zor have added to the difficulties of locals in the area displaced by fighting.

The arid province, which is mostly desert, gets barely any rain and some areas had not seen snowfall in more than a quarter of a century until freezing conditions hit over the weekend.

The UN’s partner agencies on the ground had been trying to get people to move to the town of al-Hawl to the northeast, which is better set up for internally displaced persons (IDPs), but thousands are still thought to be enduring the cold in inadequate shelter without proper clothing and fuel.

Deir Ez Zor has seen heavy fighting between Free Syrian Army rebels, extremists such as Isis and Syrian government troops throughout the civil war. The city itself, home to approximately 200,000 people, has been under siege by Isis forces since 2015, and only accesses fuel, medicine and other supplies through government aid drops.

Several thousand people have left their homes to escape fighting since the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces launched their operation on the nearby Isis stronghold of Raqqa last month.

The snow has also complicated relief efforts across the border in northern Iraq, where thousands of displaced Yazidis near Singar are dealing with unprecedented snow while living in refugee tents.

“Nearly 50 centimetres of snow has fallen on Mount Singar, endangering the lives of the refugees there,” said Mahma Khalil, the town’s mayor.

Around 3,000 people are living in tents and another 9,000 in need of food, fuel and clothes to stay warm, Mr Khalil said, appealing to the Baghdad government for aid.

Singar, which is mostly home to the minority ethnic group known as the Yazidis, whose religion encopmasses aspects of Zoroastrianism, Islam, Christianity and Judaism, was overrun by Isis in August 2014. Thousands were enslaved and killed in a genocide before the town was liberated by Kurdish peshmerga forces in November 2015.