The recent upsurge in violence in northern Syria has killed at least 13 children and injured 27 this month, reported Save the Children, an international children’s charity which has been working in Syria since 2012.
“Children should never have to worry about being attacked, whether at home, at a market or when they go outside to play,” Save the Children said. “And yet, that is precisely what children across northern Syria are facing – nearly 12 years after the beginning of the conflict,” it added.
The organisation urged all parties of the conflict to de-escalate tensions and protect children and their families from further violence and displacement.
Two children were killed and at least five were wounded on 20 August in Qamishli and Tell Rifat, towns near the Turkish border. Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said in a statement that a Turkish drone attack had caused child casualties in Qamishli.
Ten days later, Turkish shelling of the Kurdish-majority town of Kobane left one child dead.
Four children died and 11 were injured on 18 August when a Turkish drone attack targeted a UN-sponsored educational centre in Kurdish-controlled Hasakah in northeast Syria.
The next day a rocket attack targeting the Turkish-controlled al-Bab in northern Syria claimed the lives of 13 civilians, including five children, and left 38 people injured.
