War and winter: New town built in Syria to stop people freezing to death

An ambitious charity project is providing proper homes to thousands of Syrians displaced by war and struggling to survive, Tom Ambrose reports

Syrian families displaced by conflict have been forced to live in tents for up to a decade (Syria Relief)

Every winter in northwest Syria, aid workers scramble to offer support and shelter to people who have been uprooted by conflict and are in danger of freezing to death.

But one charity has gone further with an ambitious project to build a new town from scratch – seeking to provide a safe haven for thousands of people in the region who have been forced to live in tents or bombed out buildings during a decade of war.

The task of rebuilding devastated communities has been left to civil society organisations, with little support forthcoming from the Syrian government.