Recast: Some 14 mln children suffer from conflict in Syria, Iraq: UNICEF

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said Thursday that some 14 million children are now suffering from the escalating conflict in Syria and much of Iraq.

According to UNICEF, more than 5.6 million Syrian children are facing with the most desperate situation inside the country, and almost 2 million Syrian children are living as refugees in Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan and other countries.

Meanwhile, the increasingly interlinked crisis gripping Iraq has forced more than 2.8 million children from their homes, and left many trapped in areas controlled by armed groups, said UNICEF.

The conflict in Syria, which began in March 2011, has led to well over 220,000 deaths. More than 4 million people have sought refuge in neighboring countries, while a further 7.6 million are displaced within Syria.

Several rounds of Syria negotiations have ended futile.

According to the UN statistics, in the territories of Iraq and Syria controlled by the Islamic State of Iraq, children as young as 12 are undergoing military training and being used to carry out suicide bombings and executions as well.

"As the crisis enters its fifth year, this generation of young people is still in danger of being lost to a cycle of violence -- replicating in the next generation what they suffered in their own, " said UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake.

UNICEF also urged long-term investments to offer those children remedial education, vocational training as well as psychosocial care and assistance to support their livelihoods. Endite