Syrian Revolution 13 years on | Nearly 618,000 persons killed since the onset of the revolution in March 2011
SOHR documents by names nearly 165,000 civilian deaths
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) has documented by names the death of 507,567 people since the outbreak of the Syrian Revolution out of an overall death toll of 617,910 people whose death has been verified by SOHR in the past 13 years.
-Civilian deaths: 164,223 civilians: 122,695 men, 15,671 women and 25,857 children, and they are as follows:
- 49,452 civilians died under torture in regime prisons and security centres.
- 52,799 civilians were killed in shelling and gunfire by regime forces.
- 26,403 civilians were killed in airstrikes by regime aircraft.
- 8,729 civilians were killed by Russian strikes.
- 2,504 civilians were killed in airstrikes which SOHR was unable to verify whether they were executed by Russian or regime aircraft.
- 2,409 civilians were killed by opposition factions.
- 908 civilians were killed by jihadists.
- 1,349 civilians were killed under unknown circumstances.
- 467 civilians were extrajudicially executed.
- 2,805 civilians were killed in various attacks, mainly armed attacks and stabbing with sharp tools.
- 1,028 victims were killed with internationally prohibited weapons.
- 988 civilians died of poor living conditions.
- 5,062 civilians were killed by explosions.
- 2,679 civilians were killed by the International Coalitions.
- 35 civilians were killed in Israeli strikes.
- 974 civilians were killed by Turkish forces.
- 4,873 civilians were killed by ISIS.
- 478 civilians were killed by SDF and Kurdish forces.
- 281 died under different circumstance.
-Non-civilian deaths: 343,344 people; they are distributed as follows:
- Regime forces: 92,839
- Russia, Iran and regime-backed militiamen: 67,905
- Lebanese Hezbollah: 1,782
- Non-Syrian militiamen backed by Iran and Russia: 8,852
- Rebel and Islamist factions: 80,641
- Regime army defectors: 3,596
- Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF): 11,415
- Kurdish units: 3,260
- ISIS members: 41,374
- Jihadists: 28,128
- Turkish soldiers: 261
- Russian-backed non-Syrian mercenaries: 273
- Unidentified: 3,018
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has been unable to document the number of deaths of the International Coalition, due to the extreme secrecy shrouding their missions and operations.
These statistics, documented by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, do not include the following:
- Over 55,000 civilians who were killed under torture in the detention centers and prisons of Bashar al-Assad’s regime (SOHR obtained information about their death during the period of their detention).
- Over 3,200 fighters of Kurdistan Workers’ Party who were killed while fighting alongside Syria Democratic Forces.
- Hundreds of members of the Lebanese Hezbollah.
- More than 3,200 abducted civilians and fighters in ISIS prisons.
- More than 4,100 prisoners and missing members of the regime forces and their proxy militias.
- Over 1,800 persons were kidnapped by rebel and Islamist factions, “Islamic State” organisation and Hayyaat Tahrir Al-Sham (former Jabhat Al-Nusra) on charges of “loyalty to the regime.”
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights estimates that the real and actual number of people who were killed since the beginning of conflict in Syria to be over 54,000, well above the numbers that the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has been able to document, simply due to the extreme secrecy surrounding the number of casualties by the warring parties; furthermore, the Observatory has been unable to document many civilians deaths due to the difficulty of reaching some remote areas in Syria.
Additionally, 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.
About 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.
We, at the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, call on the international community once again to work hard to stop the bloodshed in Syria. The people of Syria have been facing tyranny and oppression in their noble endeavour and cause obtaining justice, democracy, freedom and equality.
The Syrian Observatory renews its commitment to continue monitoring and documenting all the developments on the ground in Syria including, the massacres, violations, war crimes and crimes against humanity committed against the Syrian people, as well as publishing all relevant statistics and causalities of such heinous acts, and hope to help all the ongoing efforts of bringing the perpetrators to special international courts, so that they do not escape justice for the crimes they committed against the people of Syria.