More than 570 thousand people were killed on the Syrian territory within 8 years of revolution demanding freedom, democracy, justice, and equality
An 8th year, 96 months since the beginning of the revolution, almost everyone who has an interest had conspired on it, a revolution that remained the enemy of slavery, dictatorship, and oppression, and stood against all those seeking to achieve their interests, and its continuation removed the last cover of the bodies of greedy and the conspirators, who want to kill anyone who seeks freedom or safety, and in the last year of the Syrian revolution that started on the 15th of March 2011, the Syrian scene witnessed developments that changed the political and military scene, even in terms of influence of the forces fighting on the Syrian territory, where the Syrian Observatory monitored that the control of the regime forces and their allies reached 60.2% of the area of the Syrian territory, with an area of 111526 km², while the control of the Syria Democratic Forces reached 28.9% which is about 53389 km2, while the control of the “Islamic State” Organization reached 2.2% of the area which is about 4090 km2; represented by a large enclave in the Syrian Desert west of Euphrates, also the rebel and Islamic factions, Hayyaat Tahrir al-Sham, and the factions of “Euphrates Shield” and “Olive Branch”, and the western-backed factions controlled 8.7% of the area of the Syrian territory, which is about 16175 km², after the proportions of control and areas of influence sued to be on the 7th anniversary of the start of Syrian revolution on the 15th of March 2018 as follows:
the regime forces became in control of an area of 57.57% of the geographical area of Syria with an area of 106508 square kilometers, followed by the Syria Democratic Forces in the terms of the influence on the land, where they became in control of a geographical area of 49653 square kilometers of the Syrian territory with about 26.8%, while Hayyaat Tahrir al-Sham and the rebel and Islamic factions became in control of an area of 23369 square kilometers with about 12.7% of the Syrian territory, as the Turkish forces and the factions operating with them within the Operation “Olive Branch” and the Operation “Euphrates Shield”, has expanded their control to 3438 square kilometers with about 1.9% of the Syrian territory, while Hayyaat Tahrir al-Sham and the rebel and Islamic factions maintained an area of 8.9% with an area of 16388 square kilometers of the Syrian territory, and the US-backed factions are in control of 3543 square kilometers with about 1.9% of the Syrian territory, while the control of the “Islamic State” organization decreased greatly, where it became in control of 5403 square kilometers with about 2.9% of the Syrian territory, as well as Jaysh Khaled Ibn al-Waleed, which pledges allegiance to the “Islamic State” organization, which maintained its control on an area of about 247 square kilometers with about 0.13% of the Syrian geography.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights documented the deaths of 371222 persons on the Syrian territory since the start of the Syrian revolution on the 15th of March 2011 until the 8th anniversary of the Syrian revolution in 2019, and the casualties were distributed as follows:
Civilian casualties: 112623 Syrians including 21065 children under the age of eighteen and 13173 citizen women over the age of eighteen.
Syrian fighters in the ranks of the rebel and Islamic factions and the Syria Democratic Forces and other factions, movements, and organizations: 64477, also the defected of the regime forces reached: 2621
Number of persons who were killed by Bashar al-Assad’s regime forces: 65187, the fighters of NDF and gunmen loyal to the Syrian regime: 50484, fighters of the Lebanese Hezbollah: 1677, and gunmen of non-Syrian nationalities loyal to the regime forces of the Shiite community: 8109
Fighters of the Islamic factions, Fateh al-Sham Front “Nusra Front formerly”, the “Islamic State” organization, the Islamic Turkestan Party, Jund al-Aqsa organization, Jund al-Sham, al-Khadra’a Battalion, Jund al-Sham al-Shishan, and Islamic movements of Arab and North African nationalities: 65726, and unidentified people documented by pictures and videos: 318
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights indicates that this statistic does not include the 88000 citizens who were killed under torture in the detention centers and prisons of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, and the observatory got the information about their death during the period of their detention, It also doesn’t include the fate of more than 4500 abducted civilians and fighters in the prisons the “Islamic State” organization, in addition to that, it does not include also the fate of more than 4700 prisoners and missing of the regime forces and militiamen loyal to them, and more than 2000 kidnapped by the rebel and Islamic factions, the “Islamic State” organization and Fateh al-Sham Front (Jabhat Al-Nusra earlier) on charges of the loyalty to the regime.
Also the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights estimates the real number of who were killed to be about 100 thousand persons more than the numbers that the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights was able to document, due to the extreme secrecy on the number of casualties by the fighting parties, and due to presence of information about civilians casualties the Observatory was unable to document their death, because of the difficulty of reaching some remote areas in Syria.
Also the continued military operations, shelling and explosions have injured more than 2 million Syrian citizens with different injuries and permanent disabilities, while about 12 million other citizens including hundreds of thousands of children and hundreds of thousands of citizen women were displaced between the refuge and the displacement areas, also the infrastructure, hospitals, schools, and private and public property have been destroyed greatly.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also documented in sheets the details of the death toll according to the party that carried out the killing, and the total number of civilian casualties was 112623; and it is distributed below according to party that caused the death:
By forces of Bashar al-Assad and their loyal gunmen of Syrian and non-Syrian nationalities: 44091 civilian casualties, and they are: 27453 men, 10341 children under the age of eighteen and 6297 citizen women over the age of eighteen.
By raids of Bashar al-Assad’s regime warplanes and helicopter 25594 civilian casualties, and they are: 16198 men, 5749 children under the age of eighteen and 3647 citizen women over the age of eighteen.
Casualties in detention centers and prisons of the regime 16082 civilian casualties, they 15893 men and young men, 125 children under the age of eighteen, and 64 citizen women over the age of eighteen.
By Russian rocket and air strikes 8015, they are 4870 men and young men, 1944 children under the age of eighteen and 1201 citizen women over the age of eighteen.
By bombing by warplanes of the International Coalition 3818 Syrian civilians, they are 2127 men, 987 children under the age of eighteen and 704 citizen women over the age of eighteen.
By bombing and shelling by the Turkish forces and warplanes 842 civilian casualties, they are 543 men and young men, 181 children under the age of eighteen and 118 citizen women over the age of eighteen.
By the Turkish Jandarma 424 civilian casualties, they are 309 men and young men, 77 children under the age of eighteen and 38 citizen women over the age of eighteen.
By the factions that were classified as factions opposing the regime 7818 civilian casualties, they are 5905 men, 1185 children under the age of eighteen and 728 citizen women over the age of eighteen.
By the “Islamic State” Organization 5939 civilian casualties, they are 5087 men, 476 children under the age of eighteen and 376 citizen women over the age of eighteen.
The 8th year of the Syrian revolution was a year of an obvious demographic change and of power dividing, as it began with process of control by the Turkish Forces and the Syrian Islamic and rebel factions on Afrin area, after an operation they launched under the name of “Olive Branch”, and more than 350000 residents of the area have been displaced towards camps in the countryside of Aleppo, after which a long journey of looting, robbery, abuse, theft, murder, kidnapping, trafficking by detainees and abductees, and the systematic displacement of people to other areas, leaving their homes and farms in which they lived for long generations, after an agreement took place between the Russians and the Turks to allow Turkey to control Afrin; in exchange for completely controlling the Eastern Ghouta, the capital Damascus, Rif Dimashq, and south of the capital, and the areas towards the Syrian south by the regime and Russia without the Iranians, following an agreement on the withdrawal of the Lebanese Hezbollah and the Iranians from the border with the occupied Syrian Golan to areas deep in the Syrian territory, this agreement allowed the start of a military operation that ended with reconciliation and settlement in the Syrian south, and with it the regime forces were able to control large areas and end the presence of the rebel and Islamic factions, the ” Islamic State” Organization, and Jaysh Khalid Ibn al-Walid which swore allegiance to the organization in Damascus, Eastern Ghouta, and south of Rif Dimashq and in the south of the capital and the entire Syrian south, in which tens of thousands of people have been displaced to the Syrian north, and tens of thousands have been displaced to the shelter centers, while tens of thousands of others remained under the agony of violations, arrests, killings, harassment, and interrogations, after that the tragedy of al-Suwaidaa began, which was attacked by the “Islamic State” Organization and shook the local and international public opinion through a major killing in a new massacre by ISIS against the Syrian people in al-Suwaidaa desert, where it abducted tens of women and children; executed and killed several of them before reaching a solution to release from, after the Organization was terminated in al-Suwaidaa Desert by the regime forces and the local gunmen of the province with limited Russian support.
These large events took place within the west Euphrates area, which is extending to the Syrian south and the Syrian border with Jordan, while the east Euphrates area was on a date with a last military operation the aim of which was to control the remainder areas of controlled of the “Islamic State” Organization; by the Syria Democratic Forces and forces of the International Coalition led by the United States of America, and the operation began at the end of the first third of September 2018, where the operations are still underway until this day, although the organization’s presence was terminated as a dominant force, but unknown numbers of members, fighters, and families are still in Baghuz trenches and tunnels in the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor near the east bank of Euphrates River, after the exit of more than 60000 people from the Organization’s enclave and its areas of presence, which used to extend from Hajin to the Syrian-Iraqi border, just before being besieged in Baghuz farms area, and after the operation began in September; the Russians and the Turks reached an agreement to impose a truce in the provinces of Aleppo, Idlib, Hama, and Latakia in mid-October 2018, and then on the 17th of September of 8th year of the Syrian revolution the same parties reached an agreement represented by the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the Russian President Vladimir Putin, where they reached an agreement to form a demilitarized area stretching from the northeastern mountains of Latakia, passes through Hama and Idlib countryside, until the northwestern suburbs of Aleppo city, provided that the heavy weapons to be disarmed and the “jihadis” to leave the area, but the operation was incomplete and the heavy weapons was buried within the demilitarized area in trenches prepared for them and the “jihadis” did not leave the area, at the contrary, Hayyaat Tahrir al-Sham was able with the “jihadi” factions to control about 9000 km² of Aleppo, Idlib, Hama, and Latakia provinces, with the exception of areas that remained under the control of the factions, while other factions were expelled towards Afrin.
Returning to the east Euphrates and the Syrian north, the area witnessed 2 important developments, the first of which was the increased Turkish threats of carrying out a military operation as “Olive Branch” Operation, but this time against Manbij area and in the east Euphrates area, through going deep to about 32 km within the Syrian side in the area extending from Manbij to the Syrian-Iraqi-Turkish border triangle, the threats were accompanied by ground targeting in an attempt to pave the way for the military operation, which was initially met by a US rejection and running military patrols by the Coalition and US Forces in Manbij and on the Syrian-Turkish border, but Turkey insisted on an operation of the “strip between both rivers”, then the US president Donald Trump took the decision to withdraw US Forces from Syria and the east Euphrates on the 19th of December 2018, forming a state of shock, but president Trump modified the decision to leave military forces in the east of Euphrates area to maintain the stability of the area and protect it from the regional threats, while the 8th year of revolution, witnessed -despite these threats- the entry of hundreds of cars and trucks by the International Coalition towards the east Euphrates area and Manbij to expand their bases, which exceeded 20 base in east Euphrates and Manbij.
At the same time, camps of the internally displaced people continued to suffer from a decline in assistance provided by the concerned organizations, which are corrupted to the bones, where the aid of the extremely poor displaced people has been seized, and al-Rokban camp which includes more than 60000 displaced people remained besieged in the middle of the sands, and the east Euphrates camps continued to suffer from the lack of care, lack of support, and corruption, while the international organizations and the United Nations invoked with the difficulty in reaching the camps, along with the tragedy of about 350000 residents of Afrin, while the tragedy of the camps of the north which includes tens of thousands of families, has also increased after the disasters they suffered, as a result of the rainstorms as well as the increasing number of residents after the displacement process that involved several Syrian areas of who were transported to the Syrian north.
After 96 months watering the Syrian soil with blood, and the continuation of killing on this land, the world and the International Community have no excuses to delay the international move, to end the death, the killing, the destruction and the displacement in the Syrian territory, to give the chance to the people of this nation to have a chance to live and re-build their country and to return their homes or the ruins in their cities, towns and villages, and there are no pretexts or excuses can stand in front of the International Courts to prevent the criminals and the murderers to be punished, with the exception of being those who are responsible for the administration of justice, evade from applying it, as we in the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights will continue our calls for the international parties and the UN Security Council to move and to refer the war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Syria to the International Criminal Court, so that the killers of the Syrian people, their instigators and their commanders are punished, and to and to stop killing and give the chance to the Syrian people to reach the state they dream, the state of justice, democracy, freedom and equality and that guarantees their rights.
If the International Community and its justice were present from the beginning, and if they were serious in helping the Syrian people to reach what they look forward, in reaching the state of justice, democracy, freedom and equality, as the Syrian people do not ask for much, they only demanded their dignity, but the International Community turned a revolution has precious goals, to a war between it and extremist organizations, and facilitated their way to spread, thus, they killed all the dreams of the Syrian people, it also reached that some of those who are responsible for the solution in Syria, to silence or bless the displacement in Syria, under the umbrella of “reconciliation and truces”, and it was only a participation by them in the crimes that are committed against humanity in Syria, and we at the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, and despite of the killing threats we received from the all parties and all killers in Syria, and from parties participated in killing Syrian people, do not and will never stop what we started of monitoring, documenting and publishing all violations and crimes committed against the Syrian people and against the humanity, and the war crimes that are still being committed in Syria, even it coasts our lives.
