A historic snowstorm just swept through parts of the Middle East and left people with mixed emotions. This video from Saudi Arabia shows a man playing around with a snow mound with humorous results.
Of course elsewhere, like Syria, battles continued to rage on even as the snow fell. I highly recommend checking out this photo collection over at The Washington Post for a nice cross section of how each region is dealing with the snow.
USA Today reports that the storm dumped nearly 20 inches on Jerusalem and The Telegraph notes that areas of Egypt experienced their first snowfall in over 100 years.
The storm, named Alexa, extended from Turkey to Egypt, with parts of Cairo reportedly experiencing their first recorded snowfall for years.
Several inches of snow fell in the Sinai Peninsual, usually an arid desert region, while authorities were forced to close the port in the coastal city of Alexandria – which saw relatively light snowfall – after a third consecutive day of bad weather and high winds.
In Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley – where there are an estimated one million Syrian refugees are crowded into 250 camps – relief agencies handed out warm clothing, blankets, bedding, heating equipment in refugee camps as snow fell relentlessly for the second day running.
Nice to see we can all share in some of the more fun aspects of winter. Although I’m quite thankful I don’t have to recreate the Hoth battle with an AK in my hometown.
(Lead image via Mohammed Alobaidan )