A severe snowstorm hit Lebanon on Tuesday, cutting off mountain roads and isolating people from the capital, Lebanese police said, according to DPA. Most local televisions interrupted their regular programs to air reports from various areas across Lebanon regarding the road situation and the weather forecast. Many villages and towns at an altitude of 800 meters above sea level were blanketed by thick layers of snow. Electricity was cut off in many parts of the country. The Beirut-Damascus mountain highway linking Lebanon with Syria and the rest of the Arab world was blocked by snow. The storm has also caused several landslides in mountainous areas east of Beirut. In the southern port city of Sidon, the storm caused a landslide at a garbage dump known as the "rubbish mountain," sending an estimated 150 tons of garbage sliding into the sea, according to a statement issued by the Sidon municipality. "The Sidon municipality has announced a state emergency and is taking necessary measures to limit sea pollution," it said. This is the second severe snowstorm to hit the region in three weeks. The snowstorm has hit Israel, the Palestinian territories, Syria and Jordan.
