Winter weather in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Israel, etc.

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For once, it isn’t just terrorist attacks and political intrigue making headlines in the Middle East, but a subject everybody can relate to: the weather. The whole area seems to be more at the mercy of a rare snowstorm than any political crisis.

In Jerusalem, the snowy weather almost overshadowed a government report on Israel’s 2006 war on Lebanon. Large parts of the Holy City were covered in white, causing schools and stores to shut and children to engage in snowball fights. Public transportation was grounded.

In Amman, even adults gave in to the rare pleasure of pelting each other with snowballs after almost a foot of snow blanketed the city. Here, too, vital business also came to a standstill. News reports said that flights were grounded for a few hours Thursday at the Jordanian capital’s international airport, where de-icing machines worked frantically to clear planes for takeoff.

Lebanon’s central areas were cut off from its coastal cities. Snow blocked roads leading to the Bekaa Valley and covered most of the country’s mountain villages. The snowstorm crippled an already poorly performing power system, increasing the long hours of electricity outtages in many areas.

The mountains surrounding Damascus were also blanketed in snow and many roads in Syria’s rural areas were blocked.

— Raed Rafei in Beirut