ROME, DECEMBER 11 - UNICEF is engaged in a race against time to assist in Iraq over 151,000 children, victims of the wars in the Middle East that are now risking their lives for the cold. These 'internally displaced' children who have had to leave their homes with their families because of the fighting, are now threatened, with the arrival of winter, from the cold and the floods that have come down on various regions of the country. In Iraq, in fact, winter is stiff and characterized by heavy rains and snow. In the north, where most of the Jazidi children and internal refugees live, temperatures fall far below freezing. Furthermore the devastating floods have made this winter even harder especially for children prone to hypothermia and respiratory diseases. In fact, most of the displaced families live under the poverty line, in unheated homes or in refugee camps without shelter in the cold. These families are therefore unable to keep their children warm.