Decade of war still weighs heavy on Syrian youth

A survey of Syrians, aged 18-25 carried out by the Red Cross, is highlighting the cost of 10 years of war for the country's youth.

The Red Cross surveyed 1,400 young Syrians, including those exiled in Lebanon and Germany. It's found 50% of those asked have lost a friend or family member in the conflict, which has killed hundreds of thousands and displaced millions more.

Reuters spoke to Fabrizio Carboni from the Red Cross.

“When you drill into how many parents were killed or wounded, there you reach the result that one out of six Syrians had one of their parents either killed or wounded."

“Rebuild(ing) the country is on their shoulder and obviously it's quite unfair when you think that they have spent their childhood, they spent their time as teenagers either directly in the conflict or they just absorb the consequences of the conflict as refugees in neighbouring countries but also here in Europe."

The reportcoincides with the 10th anniversary of the start of the protests against President Bashar al-Assad's rule that turned into a full-scale civil war.

Assad's military has now regained control of most of the country with Russian and Iranian help.

The report also shows nearly half of young Syrians have lost their income because of the conflict and almost eight in 10 have reported struggling to afford food and other essentials.

Women have also been hit particularly hard, with almost 30% in Syria reporting no income at all to support their family.