Children pay price of Syrian civil war, report reveals

ANKARA

Millions of children have been displaced and more than 29,000 others killed since the Syrian civil war erupted in 2011, according to a joint report by the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) and Anadolu Agency.

The United Nations observe the International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression on June 4 every year to remind the commitment to the rights of children. The annual observance has recalled that children pay the price of the civil war in Syria.

A total of 6.7 million Syrians, including 2.5 million children, had to leave their country due to the civil war, according to the UN data.

Since March 2011, at least 29,296 children have been killed in Syria by the parties to the conflict, while many others were injured or disabled, according to the joint report of SNHR and Anadolu Agency.

The Syrian regime was behind the majority of the fatalities, killing 22,853 children, while Russian forces killed 2,005 children, according to the report.

Meanwhile, 223 children were killed in the attacks carried out by the YPG/PKK terrorist group, and 956 were killed by DAESH/ISIS terrorists, the report revealed.

Some 1,000 children were killed by the armed opposition and anti-regime groups, and 924 children were killed by the Global Coalition Against Daesh, it said.

The report also documented the killing of 1,282 children by other unidentified parties.

A total of 217 chemical attacks, carried out by the Assad regime since March 2011, left 205 children dead, according to the report.

More than 170 children had been tortured to death by the regime, while warring factions continue to hold at least 4,816 children in prisons, it added.

Syria has been ravaged by a civil war since early 2011, when the Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protesters.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and more than 10 million displaced, according to UN estimates.

*Writing by Zehra Nur Duz