LONDON: In an orchard behind her family’s home in Syria’s eastern province of Deir Ezzor, 3-year-old Ghala Khamis Al-Saleh Al-Khamis was found dead on Aug. 2, about two hours after she vanished.
She was the third girl killed in the Syrian Arab Republic in less than three weeks, reigniting concerns about child safety even as the guns of war fall silent across much of the country.
The three victims — ages 2, 3 and 12 — died in separate incidents in Daraa and Deir Ezzor provinces, their bodies found hours or days after they disappeared. Investigators say the injuries ranged from strangulation to severe beatings.
For Syria’s youngest residents, the danger no longer comes only from shelling, clashes and explosive ordnance. It also comes from inside homes, from relatives entrusted with their care, and from a justice and child protection system that has yet to catch up with the threat.
Faten Derki, a Damascus-based lawyer and writer, said Syrian institutions are making an effort.
