UNISEF says millions of Syrian children are at risk because of water scarcity and summer heat

BEIRUT – The U.N. children's agency is warning that a scarcity of clean water and the scorching summer heat are putting children in Syria "at high risk" of disease.

Syria's civil war, now in its fifth year, has damaged much of the country's infrastructure and killed more than 220,000 people. Millions are displaced within the country, forced to live in crowded and dirty conditions. Water cuts are common throughout Syria.

UNICEF said Friday that since the beginning of 2015, Syria has reported 105,886 cases of acute diarrhea. It reports a sharp increase of Hepatitis A cases with a record 1,700 cases reported in one week alone in February.

It said one area where the risk of disease outbreak is particularly high is Deir el-Zour province, where sewage has contaminated the Euphrates river.