Homes, families and children are casualties in Syria - U.N.

Youth walk on rubble of buildings damaged by what activists said was shelling by forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad in Aleppo's Bustan al-Qasr district, September 9, 2013. REUTERS/Abdalghne Karoof

GENEVA (Reuters) - A third of Syria's housing stock and thousands of schools have been destroyed during the conflict, forcing some 4.25 million people to abandon their homes and 2 million children to drop out of class, U.N. data and statements said on Tuesday.

The homeless are mostly women, children and the elderly who fled their homes with no personal effects and are staying with other families, who are themselves surviving on very limited resources. More than 2 million more have left the country.