(The Guardian) – Syrian children are increasingly being conscripted into combat roles and being killed on the battlefield, according to the regional director of Unicef in the Middle East. Peter Salama said several hundred children were conscripted last year, and as many as 400 had been killed, some in combat. Speaking before a conference on the Syrian humanitarian crisis to be held in London in early February, he said Unicef had been able to identify 47 specific attacks on schools last year, and more than 4,000 assaults of some kind on school property since the Syrian crisis started nearly five years ago.
