UNICEF Report: 1 in 3 Syrian children know nothing but war

Amman, (IINA) - The UNICEF said on Monday that 33 percent of Syrian children have known nothing but a lifetime of war, as the country's conflict enters its sixth year this week, AFP reported.
Forced from their homes and schools, orphaned by violence and drafted into work or fighting, a generation of Syria's children is being shaped by the conflict, UNICEF said in a new report.
"Every Syrian child under the age of five has known nothing but a lifetime shaped by war -– that's an estimated 2.9 million children inside Syria, and at least 811,000 in neighboring countries", the UN children's agency said.
Syria's war has killed more than 470,000 people and, according to the Syrian Center for Policy Research, and forced more than half of a pre-conflict population of 23 million from their homes.
"Five years into the war, millions of children have grown up too fast and way ahead of their time", said Peter Salama, UNICEF's regional director for the Middle East and North Africa.
"As the war continues, children are fighting an adult war, they are continuing to drop out of school, and many are forced into labor, while girls are marrying early", Salama said. "Nearly seven million children live in poverty, making their childhood one of loss and deprivation".
More than 200,000 children live in areas of Syria under siege, the report said. And at least 2.1 million children in the country -- and 700,000 in neighboring countries -- are out of school, UNICEF said.
In addition, "a trend of particular concern is the increase in child recruitment" by armed forces and groups, the report added. "Children report being actively encouraged to join the war by parties to the conflict offering gifts and 'salaries' of up to $400 a month".
The report added that recruited children since 2014 have been much younger than before, with some as young as seven, and often without parental consent.
"These children are receiving military training and participating in combat, or taking up life-threatening roles at the battlefront", UNICEF said. "Parties to the conflict are using children to kill, including as executioners or snipers".
Moreover, girls are being recruited too. "Huda was just 14 years old when she found herself in her first battle facing armed men, with a weapon she barely knew how to use", the report said.
"I was scared. The commander gave me a gun and said get ready for the battle", Huda, who survived and now lives as a refugee in Jordan, was quoted as saying.
The ISIS terrorist group has released several gruesome videos showing child soldiers killing captives.
AG/IINA

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