Nearly 500,000 people killed in decade of Syrian civil war: Report

Damascus: Nearly 500,000 people have been killed in the decade-long civil war in Syria since the Syrian revolution on March 15, 2011, informed the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).

The unrest in Syria began in 2011 as part of a wider Arab Springs protest and has escalated from discontent against the Syrian government to an armed conflict. The conflict has devastated cities and displaced millions of people.

In a statement, the SOHR said that since the revolution began, as many as 494,438 people have been killed as of May 30, 2021.

At least 159,774 Syrians, out of which 119,591 were men, 25,048 children and 15,135 women, were killed in the war, while the death toll of Syrian fighters of rebel and Islamic factions and other various factions was reported at 79,844.

Among incumbent president Bashar al-Assad’s regime forces, 91,031 members have perished while 66,995 members of National Defence Forces (NDF) fighters and Syrian regime loyalists and 12,926 members of Syria Democratic Forces (SDF) and Kurdish units have also been killed.

The SOHR informed that 31,227 civilians, including 214 children under the age of 18, were killed under torture in regime prisons.

It also documented that over Over 47,000 civilians killed under torture in the detention centres and prisons of Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

Furthermore, the ongoing military operations, shelling, bombardment and various explosions have injured more than 2.1 million Syrian civilians with varying injuries, wounds and permanent disabilities.

Around 13,000,000 other civilians, including hundreds of thousands of children and women, have been displaced. Furthermore, infrastructure, hospitals, schools, and private and public property have been substantially damaged or destroyed, the observatory said.

The SOHR informed that 8,672 civilians, 5,252 adult and young men, 2,099 children under the age of eighteen and 1,321 women have been killed by Russian ground and aerial attacks.

More than 5 million Syrians have fled the country and 6 million are internally displaced. With more than 13 million people in need of assistance, the conflict has caused untold suffering for Syrian men, women and children.