Syrian actor Ehab Yousef has called on President Bashar al Assad to show more support to refugees taking shelter in makeshift camps as the country experiences one of its worst snowstorms in decades, IANS reported.
He posted a video online in which he covered himself in snow and challenged the Syrian president to come out in the cold for two minutes with his children or to spend the night in a camp.
“[Assad] needs to come out from his hideout and show support for the people who are dying in the refugee camps,” Yousef said, as he launched the snow bucket campaign. “Think of us when you are warm”.
The campaign aimed to mimic the ALS ice bucket challenge which spread across the world in a bid to create awareness of ALS disease and raise money for research.
Yousef called for support and donations for those suffering the severe snowstorms every day, as he shivered in the cold.
“I urge all the people around the world to donate whatever they can — money, medicine, blankets — to help the desperate refugees in the camps,” he said.
Millions of people displaced by war are experiencing freezing winds, rain, snowfall and plummeting temperatures in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey — the four countries with the highest numbers of registered Syrian refugees.
At least seven people have died in Syria in the past week due to the cold weather and shortage of medical treatment and heating.
In neighbouring Lebanon, at least four Syrian refugees died last week due to lack of heating and protection from the freezing temperatures.
Thousands of refugees have been left stranded in the Bekaa Valley with very little food and heating, as road blocks caused by the storm has hindered access for aid agencies.
