FILE - This Oct 26, 2016 frame grab from video provided by Muaz al-Shami, Syrian Revolution Network, an opposition activist media organization, shows a child in a hospital, after airstrikes killed over 20 people, in the rebel-held village of Hass, Syria. In 2018, after seven years of war in Syria, the United Nations has one thing to say: Stop the war on children. Of Syria’s estimated 10 million children, 8.6 million are now in dire need of assistance, nearly 6 million children are displaced or living as refugees and about 2.5 million are out of school. (Muaz al-Shami, Syrian Revolution Network, via AP, File)
BEIRUT (AP) — After seven years of war in Syria, the United Nations has one thing to say: Stop the war on children.
The numbers speak for themselves.
Of Syria's estimated 10 million children, 8.6 million are now in dire need of assistance, up from about half a million after the first year of war. Nearly 6 million children are displaced or living as refugees, and about 2.5 million are out of school. Over 3 million children are exposed to the hazards of unexploded ordinance and land mines, even in areas where the conflict has died down. Some 40 percent of those killed by land mines are children.
While the U.N. has verified about 2,500 children killed between 2014 and 2017, it says the actual numbers are far higher.