At least another 700,000 children in Syria are now facing hunger because of the country's badly damaged economy and the impact of coronavirus restrictions amid an almost decadelong civil war, an international aid group warned Tuesday.
Save the Children said the new figures mean that in the last six months, the total number of food-insecure children across the country has risen to more than 4.6 million.
After nearly a 10-year conflict that killed some 400,000 and displaced half the country’s population, Syria’s economy has been badly harmed by the war as well as by widespread corruption, Western sanctions and a severe economic and financial crisis in neighboring Lebanon.
The local currency crashed in recent months, making it more difficult for many Syrians to buy food and the spread of COVID-19 in the war-torn country has worsened the situation.
Save the Children said an unprecedented number of children in Syria are now battling soaring malnutrition rates.
A recent survey conducted by Save the Children found that 65% of children "have not had an apple, an orange, or a banana for at least three months." In northeastern Syria, an area controlled by terrorist organizations, almost a quarter of children said they had not eaten those fruit in at least nine months, the survey said.
The aid group noted one mother said she saved up for three weeks to buy a single apple, which she split five ways between her and her family. Save the Children said at least 1 in 8 children in Syria currently face lifelong risks associated with the stunting of growth or chronic malnutrition.
"A whole generation of children are facing the risk of malnutrition because their families simply can no longer afford to put a meal on the table," said Save the Children’s Syria response director, Sonia Khush.
In July, Russia forced the United Nations Security Council to limit humanitarian aid deliveries to the country’s mainly opposition-held northwest to just one crossing point from Turkey. Western nations at the time said the move would cut a lifeline for 1.3 million people.