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Syria war: 2016 deadliest year yet for children, says Unicef

It was six years from now when the first protest against Syria's president began. A group of teenagers wrote an anti-government graffiti and they were arrested and tortured. The protest began to release those children and since then the toll on children has only increased.

2016 has been until now the worst year for the Syrian's children, according to Unicef, at least 652 children died last year and 255 of them in or near a school. This number increases 20% since 2015, and only includes the formally verified deaths.

UNICEF believes that more than 850 children were recruited to fight in 2016, and this number also increase 50% since 2015. Those children are in the Frontline or used as executioners, suicide bombers or prison guards.

"The depth of suffering is unprecedented. Millions of children in Syria come under attack on a daily basis, their lives turned upside down, " said Geert Cappelaere, Unicef regional director for the Middle East and North Africa.

Save the Children warned that millions of Syrian children could be living in a state of "toxic stress", which could be irreversible. Two-thirds of children had lost a family member, their house had been bombed or injured for the rest of their life.

Saja has lived in war for six years and moved home six times because of war. She lost her brother and four of her best friends in a bomb attack. She lost her leg and before that she was a keen gymnast. She says that balancing with only one leg is now too difficult and she hopes to be a professional gymnastics coach.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-39252307