Two babies killed by winter cold in north-west Syria

Many children have been taken to hospital in recent days amid sub-zero temperatures in Idlib

Two Syrian infant girls have died from freezing weather in the country's north-west, the UN said on Tuesday.

Snow and rain have destroyed the tents of hundreds of displaced families in Syria's Idlib province.

“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.

They were taken to the Al Rahman specialist hospital in the Idlib village of Haranbush, where many children have been taken in recent days amid sub-zero temperatures.

Al Rahman medical director Dr Mazen Al Talawi confirmed the deaths.

Seven-day-old Fatima Mohammad Al Mahmoud was from the Al Laith camp. She was brought to the hospital at 2am “with cold limbs, dilated pupils, and was unresponsive,” Dr Al Talawi told AP by phone.

Two-month-old Amina Mohammad Salama, from the Huwar Al Ais camp, arrived at the hospital cold and blue with low blood sugar and extreme pulmonary bleeding at 1pm on Monday.

“We received her, her situation worsened and worsened until she died at 6pm,” Dr Al Talawi said.

About 7,000 thousand people live in the town of Haranbush, surrounded by 70,000 people living in neighbouring camps, according to Dr Al Talawi. He said the hospital is being inundated with cases because of the cold.

“We try to get children out of here in a few days because of the enormous number of cases that are coming. The entire hospital only has 15 beds for children and eight cribs. The space is tight and we have no ability to do more,” he said.

Deaths caused by 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.

In northwestern Syria, 80 per cent of the displaced people who live in overcrowded informal camps are women and children, according to the International Rescue Committee, a humanitarian aid organisation.

“Children are at risk of the cold. They live in worn-out tents and there is a lack of winter clothes and fuel,” said Patrick Nicholson, spokesman for the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

“The problem is getting worse due to the economic crisis, lack of resources to provide winter aid and increased needs.”

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, said the UN.

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, said the UN.

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,” the statement said. “These avoidable and tragic deaths are a dreadful example of how children urgently need more humanitarian support.”