 "Mass graves show Syrian civil war death toll exceeds 528,500: Monitor")
More than 528,500 people have been killed in Syria’s civil war, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported Wednesday (January 1), with the conflict continuing to claim thousands of lives each year.
The Britain-based war monitor said the total includes deaths confirmed recently after access to detention centres and mass graves improved following the December overthrow of Bashar al-Assad’s regime by Islamist-led rebels.
In 2024, at least 6,777 people were killed, more than half of them civilians, according to the Observatory. Last year’s toll also included 3,179 combatants, spanning government forces, Islamist armed groups, and jihadists.
The Observatory reported that 3,598 civilians were killed in 2024, including 240 women and 337 children. In 2023, 4,360 people were killed, nearly 1,900 of them civilians.
Firstpost could not independently verify the figures provided by the monitor, which relies on a network of sources inside Syria.
Years of devastation
Syria’s civil war began in 2011 after pro-democracy protests were violently repressed by Assad’s government, sparking a brutal conflict that displaced millions and drew in foreign powers.
The Observatory said it has documented over 64,000 deaths in Assad’s prisons since 2011, attributing them to torture, medical neglect, or poor conditions.
The fate of tens of thousands of people who disappeared under the Assads’ rule is a key question for Syria’s interim rulers after more than 13 years of devastating civil war that saw upwards of half a million people killed.
Assad’s more than 50-year rule ended in December when rebels seized power in a swift offensive. The devastating human toll of the conflict is a reminder of the long-term impact of the civil war on the war-torn nation.
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