Syria’s children are ‘hostages of violence’

LEBANON: IN BOX- Young children play Free Syrian Army versus Assad regime, using okra for ammunition and aubergines for hand grenades Turning rockets into goal posts, abandoned tanks into playthings, and war into a game, children in Syria are hostages to a conflict that has forced them to try to normalise death, loss and violence, residents and activists say.

In rebel-held but besieged Old City of Homs, in central Syria, young children play Free Syrian Army versus Assad regime, using okra for ammunition and aubergines for hand grenades.

Football lovers in the city, parts of which are shelled almost daily, take rockets and turn them into goalposts, according to activists’ photographs.

Speaking to AFP from Homs via Skype, Umm Mohammed says her five grandchildren -- the eldest of whom is just nine -- are not afraid of the sound of shelling or bullets, and that shrapnel has become just another toy for them. AFP