( CNN ) -- Children living in the Syrian city of Aleppo watch the sky . Not for signs of winter 's approach , although the cold winds are already blowing , but for the barrel bombs , mortars and shellfire they know will not distinguish between military targets and their families ' homes . It is hard to be a child -- or to have a childhood -- in Aleppo . The litany of deprivation and endangerment is long . Indiscriminate attacks have reduced entire neighborhoods to rubble . Across the city , more than a half-million displaced people are living in appalling conditions , struggling every day to find safe drinking water , enough food to feed their children , fuel , or even a warm place to sleep . Most hospitals are closed and most doctors and health professionals have been either killed , forced to flee , or unable to go to work . Interruptions in immunization programs have left tens of thousands of children more vulnerable to disease . The threat of attacks has driven some children underground into makeshift classrooms -- while others are learning in converted shops , mosques or empty buildings -- when they 're lucky enough to go to school at all . This has been the situation in Aleppo for more than two years . And while some parts of the city remain relatively calm , escalating violence in recent months has signaled ominously of worse days to come . Despite all this , Aleppo is not a place without hope -- and there has been progress . Working with communities and local authorities , humanitarian staff are reaching some children and families in need across the city . In recent months , United Nations convoys , including those led by UNICEF , have been able to cross conflict lines , bringing with them critical supplies to help children suffering from a lack of nutrition and to increase the availability of safe water and improved sanitation . In all the hardest-hit areas of Syria -- in Aleppo , in Homs and in Deir Ezzor -- we are doing all we can to reach the hardest to reach children and families with therapeutic foods , water purification supplies , warm clothing , school supplies and textbooks , and other critical assistance as winter descends . Of course , we are acutely aware that this assistance is not enough . Not even close to enough , when there are up to 2 million people in the troubled city of Aleppo alone -- including 250,000 children and families in eastern Aleppo who are cut off from regular humanitarian assistance . When hundreds of thousands of children can not be reached in rural Damascus due to fighting and siege . When the nation 's youngest children have known nothing but war and adolescents are coming of age in a culture of conflict . The reality is that an entire generation of Syrian children is at risk , not only from violence itself , but also for want of education , protection and emotional support to help them overcome the trauma they have been suffering for nearly four brutal years . Without these critical necessities , how will they have the ability and the desire to rebuild their country someday ? We must reach them , not only for the good our support can provide today , but for the hope for tomorrow it can help keep alive . For children who have been robbed of nearly everything , it is a reminder that they have not been forgotten . That their futures matter . In the end , the only solutions for Aleppo , and for Syria and for the region -- are political solutions . But in the meantime , the children of Aleppo need protection now . And we need unconditional , unrestricted humanitarian access from all sides now . Before another bomb or shell drops .
An entire generation of Syrian children is at risk , says Anthony Lake . Indiscriminate attacks have left entire neighborhoods in rubble , Lake says . Lake : Most of Aleppo 's hospitals are closed .