UNICEF: 12,000 children verified killed or injured in 10-year-long Syrian conflict

NEW YORK — On the 10th anniversary of the Syrian Civil War, the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) reported that over the course of the decade’s long conflict, it has verified nearly 12,000 child deaths and injuries and the recruitment of more than 5,700 children into militias.

UNICEF Representative for Children in Syria, Bo Viktor Nylund, warned that the war is not only affecting the present reality for Syria’s children but also threatens their future, noting that after ten years, the conflict has left 90% of Syrian children in need of assistance.

The Le Monde newspaper issued declared on Sunday that, “After ten years of war, Bashar al-Assad is the king of ruin.” The article said that ten years after the popular uprising against his regime, which soon devolved into a catastrophic civil war, Bashar is still in office, but he rules on a rug of rubble.

The newspaper pointed out that it is unlikely that Assad will lose an election whose outcome has already been decided: a fourth, seven-year term.