bodies away. this is a valley frequently used by syrians trying to sneak into lebanon, and their deaths here underscore just how desperate they are to reach safe ground. it s safer in lebanon, but life for the nearly 1 million syrians who have fled here is hard, ever harder in winter in these makeshift camps. but hans wife is ill. sickness is but one of the perils in their leaky cold shelter. vermin another, he tells me. there is everything here, he says. things i ve never seen before. rats, mice, everything. mona crossed into lebanon with her son. her husband went missing five years ago. we were afraid, she recalls. we walked for four days over the mountains after paying $700 to smugglers.
sada has just come out of an operation on her frost-bitten face. she doesn t know her mother, sister, and grandmother are dead. we went back to the mountainside where they died. they were just a few minutes walk from the nearest house. the snows have melted but this is the spot where the bodies were found. there s still rubber gloves here used by those who took the bodies away. this is a valley frequently used by syrians trying to sneak into lebanon. and their deaths here underscore just how desperate they are to reach safe ground. it s safer in lebanon, but life for the nearly 1 million syrians who have fled here is hard. ever harder in winter in these makeshift camps. sickness is but one of the perils in their leaky, cold shelter. vermin another, he tells me.
vermin, another. there s everything here says farhan, things i have never seen before. rats, mice, everything. mona crossed into lebanon with her son. her husband went missing five years ago. we were afraid, she recalls, we walked for four days over the mountains after paying $700 to smugglers. some have returned to syria, but others continue to come, says mike bruce of the norwegian refugee council. walking across the mountains and taking days to cross in winter are a testament to the fact that syria isn t safe. until syria is safe and until there is a lasting peace, people should not be going back to syria. reporter: in this cold, wet, bleak existence, the day when syria is safe again seems an eternity away. ben joins us now from beirut.