BEIRUT (AP) – An unseasonal sandstorm swept across the Mideast on Tuesday, blanketing Beirut and Damascus, causing the deaths of at least five people and sending hundreds of others to hospitals with breathing difficulties, officials said.
Reduced visibility prompted the Syrian government to call off airstrikes against rebel fighters, local media reported, and threatened planned protests by Lebanese activists over the government’s inability to deal with the country’s rampant trash crisis.
The storm also hit Jordan, Israel and Egypt. In Jordan, schools shut down or cut their days short.
Syria’s state-run news agency SANA said three people in the central Hama province died from the sandstorm, without elaborating, and said there were more than 3,500 cases of people with breathing difficulties across several provinces.
The sandstorm reached Beirut on Tuesday, a day after it engulfed eastern Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley. People, especially those with health issues, were advised to stay indoors while many of those who ventured onto the streets donned surgical masks.