Head of the forensic pathology department of the Damascus University, Hossain Noufel, told the Syrian al-Watan daily that, more than 18 thousand organ trafficking cases have been recorded in northern side of the country where extremist militant groups have been more active.

Most of the victims are children, he said.

Noufel said the same problem exists in the refugee camps inside Turkey, adding that more than 100,000 Syrian children are endangered by the same threat.

He said the camps are not properly supervised by the United Nations as they should be, and that has made it easier for the traffickers to find their victims.

Some 80 percent of the Syrian refugees are women and children and are threatened by different kinds of abuses, Noufel warned.

Syrian women and girls have been widely threatened by forced marriages and sexual abuses in the refugee camps. Selling young girls to rich men from different Arab countries have been a widespread business, according to reports.

Noufel said during the past three years of war there have been tens of thousands of human trafficking cases, while schools and hospitals have been a common target for the militant groups.

He said a serious drug problem also existed as the dealers used children for transferring and selling drugs.

A new report said radical groups have been recruiting Syrian children to use them as suicide bombers against the Syrian army, as they are much easier to be convinced to go for such an act.

Syria sank into war in March 2011 when pro-reform protests turned into a massive insurgency following the intervention of Western and regional states.

The unrest, which took in terrorist groups from across Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, has transpired as one of the bloodiest conflicts in recent history.

SHI/SHI