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UK-based human rights group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights on Thursday reported that the death toll due to the Syrian civil war is now more than 170,000 people, and that over a third of them are civilians. The conflict in the war-torn nation has also forced nearly half of its population to flee to neighboring countries.
“Ever since the first casualty of the Syrian revolution was registered on March 18, 2011 in Daraa province, the deaths of 171,509 people have been documented”, the Observatory said.
56,495 civilians, 9,092 of them children, were among the dead, according to the Observatory’s tally, which documented casualties up to July 8th this year. 65,803 of the dead were pro-regime militiamen and regime troops, while 46,301 of the dead belonged to the extremist group Islamic State (IS) and rebel forces looking to oust President Bashar Assad. The rebel toll also includes 15,422 non-Syrians who had travelled to Syria.
39,036 regular troops, 24,655 people belonging to pro-regime militia, 509 fighters from Hezbollah and 1,603 pro-regime non-Syrians were among the dead loyalists. The Observatory added that 2910 unidentified victims were also killed in the past three years in Syria.
The Observatory, which depends on a network of lawyers, doctors and activists on the ground in Syria to report casualties, said that the actual death toll on both sides is likely to be a lot higher. It also said that documenting all deaths is difficult “because both sides in the war try to conceal their actual losses”.
The Observatory added that 20,000 others detained by Assad’s regime and 7,000 soldiers being held by rebel fighters were unaccounted for.
Over 2,000 people are currently captives of the IS and other rebel forces, and have been accused of “collaborating” with the regime. 1,500 IS, Kurdish and rebel fighters have also been kidnapped in the past few months during battles against each other.