ASIA/LEBANON - More Syrian children are expected than Lebanese for the next school year in Lebanon

Beirut (Agenzia Fides) - About half of the 6.8 million Syrians in need of urgent humanitarian assistance, both within Syria and on the borders, are school age children. According to UN data, the Country where there is the highest concentration of Syrian refugees is Lebanon, with about 545,000 people, followed by Jordan, with 400 thousand, Turkey with 350,000 and Egypt with 100 thousand. The humanitarian crisis in Syria is unprecedented, it is even more serious than the Rwandan genocide of the nineties and is impacting heavily in many sectors. In September, for the start of the new school year, it is expected that there will be more Syrian refugee students than Lebanese in the public schools and according to the authorities of the United Nations for Children and Armed Conflict, the schools are not prepared to accept many refugee children. Compounding the situation is the recruitment of children among the armed forces, they are forced to fight, they are killed and tortured as well as being held prisoners. Since the conflict in March 2011, according to the UN, at least 93,000 people have died in Syria, but the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights has declared more than 100,000. (AP) (Agenzia Fides 23/07/2013)