Syrian children

This is regarding the report, “Syrian children ‘scarred for life’” (Oct. 19). It gives us pain that horrific acts of violence are being committed against children in Syria. Children have been the targets of brutal attacks. Deaths of their parents, siblings and other children are taking place in front of them.
We have learned from a report that a global children’s aid agency recently released a documentary named “Untold Atrocities,” a collection of first-hand accounts of the conflict from Syrian children and their parents after fleeing their country. These collections contain graphic details of how children have been caught up in Syria’s war witnessing massacres and in some cases, experiencing torture.
More than 30,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in the conflict so far since it erupted in March 2011. President Bashar Assad’s regime has been blaming the unrest and violence on foreign-backed terrorist groups, while the majority has rebelled against Assad’s rule. Even the international community ramped up calls for Assad’s exit recently at the UN’s General Assembly in New York.
However, the Security Council should follow the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s call to support the peace efforts of UN-Arab League peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi. We hope the United Nations (UN) would do the needful immediately to save the traumatized Syrian kids and to ensure children’s rights there. — Naser Mullah, Riyadh