Eight die in Middle East sandstorm

A DENSE sandstorm engulfing parts of the Middle East left at least eight people dead and hundreds with respiratory problems yesterday, as officials warned residents to stay indoors.

Large parts of Lebanon, Syria, Israel and Cyprus were shrouded in a thick cloud of dust from the storm that swept into the region on Monday.

Refugees from Syria now living in basic conditions in Lebanon were badly affected.

In Syria itself, the storm meant government warplanes and helicopters carried out fewer strikes, but at least six people had died across the country from respiratory failure, a monitor said.

“Four were killed in Deir Ezzor, including a child and an elderly woman, as well as another child in Hama province and a person in Daraa,” Syrian Observatory for Human Rights head Rami Abdel Rahman said.

Lebanon’s health ministry said two women had died at hospitals in the eastern Bekaa Valley region because of the storm, but did not specify their nationality.

“The number of cases of choking and shortness of breath caused by the sandstorm has risen to 750,” the ministry said.

The storm was felt particularly in Lebanon’s dozens of informal camps where hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees are living with limited shelter.

A thick haze hung over Jerusalem and much of Israel and the Palestinian Territories, with officials warning the vulnerable to stay indoors.

The thick cloud also enveloped parts of the eastern Mediterranean island of Cyprus.

The effects of the storm also reached Cairo, where the skyline was obscured by a thick haze. – AFP