desperately overstretched.

"The children are hungry," he added. "We call upon the outside world to help us."

'Disastrous'

The camp's "main street" was a lake of slush and icy water. A little girl who looked about 10 years old was frantically trying to sweep the water away from the entrance to her tent.

image caption Some children were able to enjoy the snow despite not having suitable clothing and footwear

She had only open sandals on her bare feet. Other children ran around, more dressed for summer than winter.

"Look at this water," said another refugee, Khodar al-Ezzo, as a small stream poured down through the leaking roof of his tent. "We need something to keep us warm. Our situation is disastrous. People are beside themselves."

A roof had been caved in by snow. Itwas the school tent. The children were delighted, making a snowman.

They jumped up and down with excitement as we filmed them.

They forgot the cold for a few minutes before running off to warm their hands by a brazier burning scrap wood and plastic.

image caption Mona al-Ali has no proper heating in her tent, where she lives with seven children, two of them new-borns

Nearby, we found a tent with Mona al-Ali, who had given birth to twins Abbas and Bassima three days earlier. Their five older siblings huddled around a fire, which was not putting out enough heat to warm their tent.

Mona, who is from Homs, told me she prayed to God for things to get better.

"Our situation is very bad," she said. "There's no proper heating. I have