Persian Realm

Fears for Syria's refugee children as winter arrives

In pictures (bbc)

Fears for Syria's refugee children as winter arrives

Deadly attack on Syrian school kills 29 students and teacher

Deadly attack on Syrian school (bbc)

At least 28 students and a teacher were killed when a shell hit a school outside the Syrian capital, Damascus, state media and activists say. 

Syrian attack 'kills 10 children'

Activists in Syria say a government MiG fighter jet has dropped a cluster bomb on a playground east of Damascus, leaving 10 children dead.

Syrian war victim rescued by brother

Miracles Happen: Syrian boy reunited with parents

Syrian boy reunited with parents (bbc)

A Syrian boy left behind by his parents when they fled bombardment in Damascus three months ago has been reunited with them, according to the family's lawyer.

Two-year-old Bushr was found wandering in rubble by neighbours who handed him over to rebel fighters.

With the help of other Syrians and lawyers, Bushr was taken first to Lebanon and then to rejoin his family in the Cypriot town of Limassol.

The family are now seeking asylum in Cyprus, their lawyer says. 

Syria crisis: A school for child refugees in Turkey

School for Syrian refugees in Turkey (bbc, video)

More than 300 children who were forced to flee the violence in Syria are now being educated at an unlicensed school set up by their parents and volunteer teachers in Turkey.

The Turkish authorities want the children to study at official centres set up within refugee camps, but many parents do want their young to have to live and learn within such confines.

James Reynolds reports. 

Syrian parents find son in Cyprus

Syrian parents find son in Cyprus (bbc, video)

A Syrian boy, feared to have been killed in the rubble of his shelled Damascus home in July, has been reunited with his parents, who had fled to seek asylum in Cyprus.

Janey Mitchell reports. 

Rebels say Damascus bomb kills kids near playground

Rebels: Damascus bomb kills kids (cnn)

CNN) -- Mangled metal, puffs of smoke, chunks of concrete, blood and a crowd of people walking around dazed, shocked and crying. That was the scene on a Damascus street Friday after a car bomb exploded and killed several people. Some of the dead were reported to be children.

The blast seemed to mock the truce that the Syrian government and rebels agreed to abide by earlier this week. The truce, negotiated by the United Nations' special envoy to Syria, was supposed to last during Eid al-Adha, the four-day Muslim holiday that celebrates the end of the Hajj. A Syrian purportedly at the scene captured a video and posted it on YouTube.

CNN cannot verify that the footage is authentic, just like so many amateur videos shot during a war that foreign journalists have been blocked from covering.

• A car bomb explodes in Damascus, killing children, rebels say
• Syrian army forces say they were attacked by rebels
• The army is responding by firing back, state TV reports
• The cease-fire is supposed to span the four-day Eid al-Adha holiday

Syrian Children's bodies maimed, burnt'

Children's bodies maimed, burnt' (cnn)

(CNN) -- It's a horror show that has played out across Syria for 19 months. Those grieving the dead are themselves targeted by gunfire or deadly blasts.

• 13 people are killed in an explosion at a funeral of an opposition activist
• "Look at this, Assad! ... Look at this, you murderer!" one man screams
• The blast takes place in the Damascus suburbs, which has seen months of fighting
• International envoy Lakhdar Brahimi is trying to broker a cease-fire by Friday

Children in a war-torn Syrian town hold school in a cave

Syrian schooling in a cave (cnn)

CNN) -- Schoolchildren in Syria remain in the line of fire of the country's civil war, where shells and bombs deliver death and trauma into classrooms, UNESCO lamented Friday on World Teacher's Day.

Many pupils and teachers dare not attend lessons, opting to take cover or flee with their families, leaving schools deserted. But the violence is forcing some classes literally underground, into caves.

• Attacks on schools in Syria drive children and teachers into caves
• UNESCO study: Millions of students and teachers globally die in classrooms in war
• Expert says schooling children should be a vital part of humanitarian aid
• Friday is UNESCO World Teachers' Day

Report highlights abuse of children in Syria conflict

Syrian children's horror stories released

Syrian children's horror stories released (cnn, Video)

CNN) -- After 18 months of terror and grave devastation, Syrian children are plagued with trauma from witnessing the horrors of war first-hand, an international aid group says.

Save the Children released a report Tuesday called "Untold Atrocities" -- a collection of accounts from Syrian refugee children.

• "I have seen children slaughtered. I don't think I'll ever be OK again," a boy says
• Qatar's Al Thani says a new plan would include havens and a no-fly zone in Syria
• The prime minister says he believes Arab and European countries would participate
• He says he hopes the United States will take stronger action after its elections

Syria child trauma 'appalling' according to report

A Save the Children report finds numerous cases of horrific abuse against Syrian children and urges the UN to do more to document them.

Syria conflict: School in a time of war

School in a time of war (bbc)

Damascus students return to their classrooms in war-torn city

War clouds start of school year in Syria

War clouds start of school year in Syria (cnn)

2,000 schools in Syria are damaged or destroyed as the school year begins 

In other developments:

Many Syrian children can't go to school

The school year officially starts this week in Syria, but the reality of war prevents thousands of children from learning.

More than 2,000 of the country's 22,000 schools have been damaged or destroyed, according to the Syrian Ministry of Education.

The education crisis extends beyond Syria's borders.

The Lebanese government was working to place an estimated 32,000 refugee children in public schools, the United Nations Children's Fund said.

At the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan, UNICEF was registering school-age children while working to build a school that can accommodate up to 5,000 students, the agency said.

For some children inside Syria who can't go to school, UNICEF provided "recreational kits because these children had nothing to do." 

A sniper's bullet, a dying child in Syria

A sniper's bullet, a dying child in Syria

Rena was playing in her mother's lap when the bullet tore through her cheek. Dar Al'Shifa, which lies in rebel territory, sees trauma every hour in many forms, but a child shot in the face still shocks doctors (cnn, video)

Refugee children relate Syria horrors

Refugee children relate Syria horrors (cnn)

Cassandra Nelson is inside a Syrian refugee camp in a barren desert plain in Jordan, and says children are showing deep emotional scars as a result of the war back home.  

Children killed in bus attack in Syria

Children killed in bus attack in Syria (cnn, video)

(CNN) -- Already devastated by weeks of constant attacks this year, the Syrian city of Homs faced new terror Sunday as pro-regime forces executed 10 young men in the dissident stronghold, opposition activists said.

Forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad stormed the Shammas neighborhood of Homs and gathered 350 young men in the square of a mosque, said the Syrian National Council, an umbrella opposition group.

Another opposition group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said three children were killed when regime forces fired on a minibus carrying residents fleeing the Shammas neighborhood.

But Syria, on state-run TV, blamed "terrorists" for that attack, saying three people, including two children, were killed on the bus.

At least 110 people were killed in violence across the country Sunday, the opposition Local Coordination Committees of Syria said.  

• NEW: At least 110 people were killed Sunday, an opposition group says
• An opposition activist condemns videos apparently showing violence by rebels
• An activist reports "massive destruction" in Rastan
• Wife of Turkish PM says she wishes al-Assad's wife and children had come to Turkey

Syria: Children 'deliberately targeted' in conflict

'Horror no child should see' (bbc, VIDEO)

The international charity War Child has accused all sides in the Syrian conflict of deliberately targeting children.

A report on the impact of the war on the young, said that every one of the six UN-recognised violations against children is being breached; including killing, rape, abduction and the recruitment of child soldiers.

Lyce Doucet reports.

Syria child torture 'extraordinary'

Syria Child Torture « extraordinary » (bbc)

Syrian troops have tortured children and used them as human shields on tanks to prevent attacks by opposition forces, a UN report says.

The report also said rebel forces were using children on the front line.

The UN's Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, Radhika Coomaraswamy, told the BBC the organisation was "shocked", calling the situation "extraordinary".

Syria 'regime torture widespread'

A detailed Human Rights Watch report accuses the Syrian government of a state policy of torture which it says amounts to a crime against humanity

Inside Syria: Children left untreated

Inside Syria: Children left untreated (bbc, VIDEO)

The BBC's Ian Pannell has met a family in the northern province of Idlib, Syria, who are sheltering their injured children because they are too afraid to have them treated.

The family said that they would be arrested if they took their young sons, who had been wounded in a shelling attack, to hospital.

In Aleppo and Idlib provinces, the fighting between rebels and government forces is escalating, with unverified reports from activists that more than 200 people were killed in clashes and attacks over the last weekend alone.

Ian Pannell spent two weeks with some of the groups in the Idlib province, you can watch his first report from Syria here 

What about the abandoned children of all Africa?

Or Iran?  Syrian people like Libyans, Afghanis, Iraqi's and others never had sincere support, only opposition.