For years, the world has watched Syria spiral into destruction and bloodshed.
Ten years ago, the violent suppression of peaceful popular demonstrations in Syria set the country on the path to a horrific war.
After a decade of conflict, in the middle of a global pandemic, and faced with a steady stream of new crises, Syria has fallen off the front page. And yet the situation remains a living nightmare.
Hundreds of thousands of Syrians have died. Millions have been displaced. Countless others remain illegally detained and often tortured, missing, disappeared, or living in uncertainty and deprivation.
For ten years, the world has watched Syria spiral into destruction and bloodshed. The suffering of the Syrian people during this tragic and terrible decade still defies comprehension and belief.
UNICEF said almost 12,000 children were killed or injured in the past decade, according to verified data, and more than 5,700 children were recruited into fighting.
Assad’s forces have gained control of much of the country with the help of his allies Russia and Iran. Insurgents still control an area in Syria’s north-west that is home to more than 3 million people, many of them internally displaced.
The situation in the north-west is “alarming,” with many families that have fled violence multiple times, some as many as seven times, in search of safety.
For young people in particular, the last 10 years have been marked by loss of loved ones, loss of opportunities and loss of control over their future.
