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A newborn girl was on Thursday near��piles of rubbish in Syria’s province, according to reports.

The body was found in a courtyard near residential buildings in the Mahmudiya neighbourhood of Afrin city, before being transferred by the Syrian Civil Defence, otherwise known as the ,��to a local forensic department.

Forensic specialists confirmed that the newborn had been suffocated before her body was brutally thrown, ������’s Arabic-language sister site��Al-Araby Al-Jadeed .

Several newborns have been found dumped in northwestern Syria since the beginning of this year,��many dead or seriously ill, according to the Syrian Response Coordinators, a Turkey-based��NGO.

Last year, nine newborns were abandoned in northwest Syria, according to a by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based war monitor.

انتشلت فرقنا، اليوم الخميس 22 أيلول، جثة طفلة حديثة الولادة من فناء بين أبنية سكنية في حي المحمودية في منطقة شمالي ، ونقلتها إلى الطبابة الشرعية في مدينة عفرين.

— الدفاع المدني السوري (@SyriaCivilDefe)

Calling the incident "shocking and painful",��the White Helmets told ������ that the circumstances behind the abandonment were not yet clear.

However, it said desperate living conditions caused by war and displacement were likely a factor.

Lawyer Othman Al-Ahmad told��Al-Araby Al-Jadeed said births in the region must be better registered, to facilitate follow-up checks on babies and mothers.

Syria has been embroiled in a brutal conflict since 2011, when the Assad regime pursued a deadly crackdown on pro-democracy activists.

Over 500,000 people have been killed and millions more displaced since.