Week two - Syrian civil war

  Life and death in Syria

The war in Syria has raged for five years and claimed the lives of more than a quarter of a million people. Millions have fled the conflict, but nearly 18 million people still live in the war-torn country.

  The United Nations estimates that 17.9 million people still live in Syria — down from 24.5 million before the war broke out. More than 6 million of them are classed as internally displaced after being forced to flee their homes to look for somewhere safer to live.

  Most provinces have seen a sharp decline in population and many of those that remain have fled the cities to seek shelter in the countryside.

  Life goes on as normal in many parts of the capital, Damascus, but elsewhere millions struggle to get by. The UN says 13.5 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance, with 4.5 million of those in hard-to-reach and besieged areas like Deir al-Zour.have killed many civilians.

  Five years of war has all but destroyed Syria's economy,  Syrian families face a daily struggle to make ends meet. Nearly 70% of the population are living in extreme poverty, unable to secure basic food and non-food items.

  That struggle is made worse by the state of the farming industry in Syria. Once one of the country's biggest sectors, its production and distribution have been badly affected by the conflict and many regions now have high levels of food insecurity.

  Food has increasingly been used as a weapon, with aid often diverted onto black markets or into government-approved areas. Reports of people starving to death have emerged from besieged areas like Eastern Ghouta, a rebel stronghold on the outskirts of Damascus.  With food production limited and food aid unreliable, getting hold of the essentials can be both difficult and extremely expensive in many areas of the country.

Bread, for example, is a key staple across the Arab world. Before the war, Syria's government subsidised it and other essential food items as part of the country's welfare system in return, it hoped, for the support of its people. But after losing control of vast areas that produce wheat, those subsidies were reduced by the government and the price of bread has rocketed.

Even for those that have survived, the outlook remains bleak. As families have fled Syria for safer shores, the number of school-age children in the country has dwindled — there are a million fewer now than there were in 2010. And of those that are still there, more than 40% are no longer going to school.

Syria's education system has been shattered by the war, with one in four schools having been damaged or destroyed, used as a shelter, or converted into a military building. Even if the schools were intact, many would be unable to open, with almost one quarter of the country's teaching personnel — some 52,500 teachers — no longer in their posts.

URL：http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-841ebc3a-1be9-493b-8800-2c04890e8fc9


Structure of the Lead：
ＷＨＯ：Analysis population, food and educating in Syria.
ＷＨＥＮ：2011 until now.
ＷＨＡＴ：Syrian civil war continued struggle.
ＷＨＹ：Not given.
ＷＨＥＲＥ：Syria
ＨＯＷ：Most of them wrestle with death every day.