Syrian kids bear brunt of 2-year violence

An international children charity organization has warned that Syrian kids have been bearing the brunt of the two-year-long violence in Syria.

Save the Children said on Wednesday that a new research, carried out among Syrian refugees in Turkey, revealed that one in every three Syrian children has been tortured, raped or shot at.

The UK-based charity also condemned the armed groups and militants fighting against the Syrian government for taking young children to the frontline and even using them as porters and human shields.

On Monday, a UN investigation into the Syrian crisis also blamed foreign-backed militants in Syria for atrocities in the country.

Paulo Pinheiro, the Chair of the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria, said at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva that militants have been executing captured Syrian Army soldiers in their own makeshift courts.

Pinheiro also said the militants were recruiting child soldiers as young as 13.

Meanwhile, recent videos show militants in Syria recruiting children and teenagers. The videos show the commander of a US-backed group in the northern province of Aleppo saying that when the children arrive, they are children, but when they leave, they become killing machines.

The Syrian crisis began in March 2011, and many people, including large numbers of soldiers and security personnel, have been killed in the violence.

The Syrian government says the chaos is being orchestrated from outside the country, and there are reports that a very large number of the militants are foreign nationals.