About 5m kids born since Syria’s war began, 9,000 dead or wounded
AMMAN: At least 4.8 million children were born since Syria's war began nine years ago while 9,000 have been killed or wounded in the conflict, the UN children's agency sad yesterday.
An additional one million children were born as refugees since the conflict erupted on March 15, 2011, Unicef said.
"The war in Syria marks yet another shameful milestone today," said Unicef executive director Henrietta Fore, who was in Syria last week.
"As the conflict enters its 10th year, millions of children are entering their second decade of life surrounded by war, violence, death and displacement."
Citing data from 2014 when official monitoring began, Unicef said that "more than 9,000 were killed or injured in the conflict".
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During the same time "close to 5,000 children - some as young as seven - were recruited into the fighting (and) nearly 1,000 education and medical facilities came under attack".
The agency warned that the "true impact of this war on children is likely to be more profound".
Mr Ted Chaiban, Unicef regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, said an ongoing offensive by government forces on the last rebel stronghold in north-western Syria was having "severe consequences on children".
Fighting there since Dec 1 has displaced more than 960,000 people, including over 575,000 children, according to Unicef. - AFP
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