“It’s bad here,” Mohammed, 13, told the BBC News.
Surrounded by six of his brothers, sisters and cousins, the young boy was the eldest in the group.
His father had been killed in the fighting weeks ago.
He and his brothers and sisters were told by their mother to seek refuge in an old Roman burial chamber until she finds food for them.
As they waited in the dark for their mother, the terrified boys were feeling cold, hungry and scared.
“We’re all afraid, that’s why we’re staying here,\u201d Mohammed said.
\u201cWe’re afraid of the bombing and the shelling.\u201d
Many Syrian families are finding no other place but tombs and caves to flee the raging war between Assad\u2019s security forces and opposition fighters.
\u201cLife is so hard, but we have to deal about it,\u201d an elderly mother living in a cave said.
\u201cThe world has forgotten about us. This isn\u2019t a home.\u201d
The United Nations estimates 70,000 people have been killed in more than 22 months of fighting between Assad\u2019s security forces and the opposition.
More than 900,000 Syrian refugees have fled the country to seek refugee abroad.
The UN has predicted the number of Syrian refugees in neighboring countries will double to 1.1 million by June if the civil war does not end by then.<\/p>\n