Syria’s bloody war entered its eighth year on Thursday with thousands of civilians fleeing deadly assaults on besieged territory, and refugees in camps across its border falling deeper into poverty.
Over the past seven years, Syria’s conflict has killed hundreds of thousands of people, driven millions more from their homes, disturbed the regional balance of power and dragged in foreign nations whose rivalry has upset existing alliances.
The conflict grew out of popular protests against President Bashar al-Assad in 2011, and evolved into a violent insurgency and civil war after the government responded with force.
Here are some facts about what has been happening inside and outside the war-torn country:
• About 511,000 people have been killed in the Syrian war since it began seven years ago.
• More than six million people are uprooted within Syria and more than five million are refugees in neighbouring countries – mostly in Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan – and also throughout Europe.
• Syrian refugees in neighbouring Lebanon are becoming poorer, with more than three-quarters living on less than $US4 per day – leaving children at risk of child labour and early marriage. – About 66,000 refugees returned to Syria in 2017.
• More than 3,900 civilians, including hundreds of minors and women, left Eastern Ghouta, the besieged rebel stronghold on the outskirts of Damascus, on Thursday in the largest displacement from the area since the government forces imposed their siege in 2013.
