Syria 'a living nightmare' after decade of war, UN chief says

Al-Monitor Staff

Syrian children sit amid spent bullet casings at a metal scrapyard on the outskirts of Maaret Misrin town in Idlib province, on March 10, 2021. A Syrian family that was displaced from the village of Latamneh in Hama's northern countryside 4 years ago has found a source of income in collecting and selling metal scrap, including unexploded ordnance shells and spent ammunition casings, a business all the family participates in. — AAREF WATAD/AFP via Getty Images

Syria may no longer grab front-page headlines but “the situation remains a living nightmare,” warned UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres ahead of the 10-year anniversary of the country’s vicious civil war.

“It is impossible to fully fathom the extent of the devastation in Syria, but its people have endured some of the greatest crimes the world has witnessed this century. The scale of the atrocities shocks the conscience,” Guterres told reporters Wednesday.

On Monday, Syria will mark 10 years since peaceful protests against the government of Bashar al-Assad turned deadly, spawning a war that has killed more than 400,000 people and forced more than 5 million to flee the country.

Roughly 60% of Syrians are at risk of hunger this year, Guterres said, blaming the country’s economic collapse on a combination of "conflict, corruption, sanctions and the COVID-19 pandemic."

Syria 'a living nightmare' after decade of war, UN chief says

Some 60% of Syrians are at risk of hunger this year, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said.

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