The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights

Syria: 560,000 killed in seven yrs of war, SOHR

Over half a million people have been killed in seven years of war in Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said on Monday. The conflict began in March 2011 and is still ongoing. Over the years it has morphed from civil strife to a regional conflict with armies and militias from other countries fighting on Syrian soil. SOHR has for the past 11 years has been monitoring violations in Syria and has a large network of sources on the ground across the country. It is headquartered in the UK and was founded by a Syrian dissident in exile, but has repeatedly been cited even by government-linked media when it denounced crimes committed by opposition groups, US forces and radical groups. SOHR said that at least 560,000 have been killed but that it was able to fully document the deaths of only 367,965. Of the 560,000, it said, 111,330 are civilians, including 20,819 under the age of 18 and 13,084 women. Some 65,048 Syrian soldiers have been killed and 50,296 members of militias backing them. A total of 65,108 members of radical groups – including both those linked to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State (ISIS) – have also been killed. As concerns opposition fighters, 63,561 including those operating under the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have been killed. At least 1,675 fighters from the Lebanese Hezbollah – the Shia movement allied with Damascus and Iran – have also lost their lives in the fighting. Of the over 500,000 killed, some 104,000 were tortured to death in Syrian government jails.

Source: Syria: 560,000 killed in seven yrs of war, SOHR – General news – ANSAMed.it