Syrian war death toll reaches 340,000: Syrian Observatory Human Rights

MENA

Published: 2017-11-25 13:27

Last Updated: 2024-03-28 19:06


The war started in 2011 as peaceful uprising against Bashar Al Assad’s regime.
The war started in 2011 as peaceful uprising against Bashar Al Assad’s regime.

At least 340,000 people have been killed in Syria since the war broke out in 2011, according to a new report by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The report said that among the documented deaths, 102,618 were civilians, including 19,000 children and 12,000 women.

During the six-year war, “at least 119,000 pro-government forces have been killed, including 62,000 Syrian troops, tens of thousands of loyalist militiamen, and 1,556 fighters from Lebanese movement Hezbollah,” according to the report.

“Another 59,000 fighters from opposition groups, extremist factions, and the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces were also killed.”

“Militant groups suffered the biggest blow, with more than 62,200 deaths representing an increase of 4,000 since the Observatory published its last toll in July.”

The report indicated that nearly 12,000 people were killed across the country during the past four months, 3,001 civilians were among them.

The Britain-based Syrian observatory documented the 343,511 deaths in the period between the beginning of the anti-government uprising in March 2011 and the start of November 2017.

In May, a de-escalation deal was agreed on between government backers Iran and Russia, and rebel ally Turkey, to halt fighting that has raged for six years.

The deal called for stopping hostilities between rebel groups and forces fighting on behalf of Bashar al-Assad's government in the four agreed-on de-escalation zones, with Russia, Turkey and Iran acting as guarantors.

Violence noticeably decreased across the country in the first few weeks after the deal was announced, before violence started again.

“Although the de-escalation agreements brought a drop in civilian deaths, the fierce offensives against ISIS in other areas made it so that civilians were dying at the same pace,” the Observatory's Head, Rami Abdel Rahman, said.

The Observatory relies on a network of sources across Syria that includes armed groups, government sources, medics, and activists.

The conflict broke out with peaceful protests against strongman President Bashar Al Assad and his regime in 2011, but his crackdown paved the way for a fully-fledged war, which has forced some 11 million Syrians to flee their homes.

 Syrians to flee their homes.