The devastation wreaked by the Syrian conflict has been compared by the head of the Red Cross to that seen in World War Two.

The charity's chief executive, Mike Adamson, likened the damage caused during the continuing civil war to the London Blitz and the firebombing of Dresden more than 70 years ago.

The bloody conflict, which enters its seventh year this week, has seen more than half of the country's 22.8 million pre-war population forced to flee their homes.

Image: The damage caused by the civil war has been likened to the London Blitz

Meanwhile, official figures released by UNICEF revealed more children were killed in Syria in 2016 than in any previous year of the war since records began.

A study by the children's charity showed at least 652 children died last year - more than a third of whom were in or near a school.


It also revealed more than 850 children were recruited to fight in the conflict last year - more than double the number recruited in 2015.

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Mr Adamson, who has just returned from a four-day trip to the war-torn nation, where he saw the destruction in Homs, said: "When you see the destruction of the old city and then the flats and houses that people used to live in - there is no prospect of people being able to return quickly even if the situation is stable, because the scale of destruction... I've never seen anything like it.

"It's on World War Two scale, in terms of those images we have from the Blitz or Dresden bombings."

More than half of the city's 200,000-strong population had fled to other parts of Syria or across the border to neighbouring countries since the start of the conflict, according to the charity.

Mr Adamson said it was hard to see a "pathway to resolution".

Image: Millions have been forced to flee their homes in Syria

He added: "The scale of it is quite hard to get your head around. There's loss of life, and then there is just a colossal loss of opportunity for a nation.

"I've been in a range of disaster situations over the years with the Red Cross, I've never quite had this sense of the scale of loss of life, opportunity, livelihood, and of a nation set back by decades.

"Even if peace arrived tomorrow it would take decades to rebuild because so much has been destroyed."

Mr Adamson also highlighted the "humbling" generosity of Syrians who would offer him tea as he visited their damaged homes.

Aid workers were risking their lives daily, he said, adding that he heard of one volunteer who had been kidnapped 10 times.