AP
A man takes cover at the Tel Aviv Port in Monday's storm (AP)
Associated Press
Small fishing boats are seen stacked atop of each other after high winds and towering waves struck Beirut's seaside coastal area, Lebanon, Sunday (AP)
Uriel Kramer
Lightning in Tel Aviv (Uriel Kramer)
Associated Press
High waves smash against a wall in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, Sunday (AP)
Associated Press
People watch as high winds and heavy seas hit the shore on the Beirut seaside, in Lebanon, Sunday (AP)
Ben Hartman
The Tel Aviv beach promenade is flooded in the storm (Ben Hartman)
Associated Press
A general view showing the low visibility, as the capital suffers fierce winds causing dust storms and low temperatures, in Cairo, Sunday (AP)
Associated Press
Egyptians pass by shore after heavy rains in Alexandria, Egypt, Sunday (AP)
Marc Israel Sellem
Snow in Jerusalem (Marc Israel Sellem)
Marc Israel Sellem
The wind knocks over a Jerusalem street sign (Marc Israel Sellem)
Marc Israel Sellem
The Western Wall is left mostly empty during a storm; a haredi man covers his black hat with a plastic bag (Marc Israel Sellem)
BEIRUT — Heavy rains and fierce winds pummeled the Middle East over the weekend,
sinking a ship off Israel's coast and killing a woman in Lebanon whose car was crushed when a tree fell on it.
The storm brought unusually cold temperatures, below freezing in some spots. It ended weeks of unseasonably warm and dry weather that contributed to dozens of
forest fires in Lebanon and helped feed a massive blaze in Israel that destroyed thousands of hectares of forest.
RELATED:2 seriously hurt by powerful winds in Ashdod, AshkelonIt whipped up sandstorms in Jordan and Egypt, which closed its largest Mediterranean port. In Syria, snow blanketed the streets of Damascus for the first time this winter. Schools sent students home early and children ventured outside to play in the streets.
Syrian authorities closed their main port of Tartous. In Egypt, 12-foot
waves forced shut the port of Alexandria — the country's largest — as
well as another in the town of Nuweiba along the Red Sea coast of the
Sinai Peninsula.
Heavy rains flooded the streets in Beirut and snow forced some road
closures in remote mountain towns in Lebanon. A woman died Saturday
night when an uprooted tree fell on her car in the northern port city of
Tripoli, authorities said. Flights in and out of Beirut's international
airport were delayed.
In the Gaza Strip, strong winds and lashing rains caused cracks in the
pier and the breakfront at the harbor local fishermen use. No one was
hurt, but civil defense workers and the Gaza maritime police were
hauling boats out of the water and moving them and other fishing
equipment to safer ground.