Facts about Syria as violence marks ninth year of war

BEIRUT, March 15 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Syria’s war entered its ninth year on Friday.   
 Here are some facts about the war, which grew out of popular protests against President Bashar al-Assad:   
More than 5.6 million Syrian refugees have fled to Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and Egypt and 6.6 million have been displaced within its borders.   
About 11.7 million people need emergency aid in Syria, many of them children.   
The war has killed an estimated half a million people.   
Around 1,106 children killed by fighting in 2018, it was the deadliest year for Syrian children according to verified deaths.   
* About 2 million children in Syria are out of school.   
More than 3,500 children from more than 30 countries, whose families have real or suspected links to the Islamic State, are living in harsh conditions camps in northeast Syria.   
Of these, about 2,000 children are younger than five.