Massive deadly sandstorm strikes the Middle East

Syria, Lebanon, Israel and Cyprus were all hit by a deadly sandstorm that killed 8 people and hospitalized thousands for severe breathing problems, according to the Daily Mail.

MUNTINLUPA, PHILIPPINES (Catholic Online) - A thick cloud of dust enveloped the Middle East on Monday with thousands believed to have been hospitalized because of respiratory problems.

Six people died in Syria and two women died in a hospital in the eastern Bekaa Valley region; their nationalities were not disclosed.

Head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdel Rahman, said, "There were four killed in Deir Ezzor, including a child and an elderly woman, as well as another child in Hama province and a person in Daraa."

SANA, Syria's state-run news agency, reported more than 3,500 cases of breathing difficulties across other provinces.

Adeeb Mahmoud, the head of a major hospital in the Syrian capital city of Damascus, said there were more than 1,200 people which included children, who were being treated for breathing problems.

Deir Ezzor, a Syrian city, had several hospitals overflowing with people unable to breath properly but they had run out of oxygen tanks.

"The number of cases of choking and shortness of breath caused by the sandstorm has risen up to 750," the Lebanon's health ministry reported.

Facial masks were distributed by authorities along city streets and they issued warnings to those already suffering from health diseases, the elderly and pregnant women to remain indoors for their safety.

The monster sandstorm was greatly experienced in Lebanon's dozens of informal camps where hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees stay.

Private schools across Lebanon were closed as ordered by Education Minister Elias Bou Saab, who ordered "school officials to respect this decision and to protect the students from any danger."

Secretary general of Labonon's governmental National Council for Scientific Research, Mouin Hamzeh, said satellite images "clearly show that the sandstorm came from northern Iraq in the direction of central and northern Lebanon, north and east Syria, and southern Turkey. It usually happens twice or even three times a year in Lebanon but during spring, March and April, and the unusual thing today is the density of the storm."

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