Children Living Inside War-Torn Syria Share New Year Messages Of Hope

'I wish to go back home and play with my friends.'
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Children from inside war-torn Syria have shared their hopes and dreams for 2018 with HuffPost UK.

The youngsters are all living in the Areesheh makeshift camp in north-east Syria, where more than 25,000 internally displaced people, half estimated to be children, have sought shelter.

Many have fled the violence in Deir-ez- Zor and Raqqa with little more than the clothes on their backs.

Some had to endure a dangerous journey through minefields through daily attacks, siege and lack of food, drinking water and medical services - but live in hope that 2018 will be different for them.

Sidra, from Al- Mayadeen, Deir-ez-Zor, said: “I wish to go back home, and play with my friends without any shelling or violence and that our homes will be safe, and to go to the park with my friends.

Laila, 10, from Deir-ez-Zor, said: “I wish to go back to my house, and for it to be intact and to play with my mother, friends and cousin and to go to school to become polite and nice along with my girlfriends who will walk to school and back with me and to go to the park to play.”

Shahd, who is 10 and from Deir-ez-Zor, said: “I wish to go back home, to play with my friends and see my uncles and study with my cousins and learn how to read and write and return to a safe house.”

This festive season, HuffPost UK has teamed up with Unicef to appeal for money to help children in Syria, almost seven years after the conflict started.

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