Young activists in Syria. Photograph by Syria Freedom
The human cost of Syria’s 33 months of bloody civil war is estimated to have reached 126,000, with vicious abuses being perpetrated by both sides.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) relies on a network of activists and doctors on the ground in Syria to monitor the death toll of the conflict, which had reached 125,835 by 1st December. Over a third of those killed in the conflict are civilians, with SOHR estimating 44,381 civilians killed, a number which includes 6,627 women and 4,454 children.
President Bashar al-Assad’s forces have sustained heavier losses than the rebels, with SOHR reporting that 31,174 soldiers, and 19,256 members of Syrian pro-regime militia have been killed. 232 Hezbollah fighters from Lebanon are reported to have been killed fighting alongside Assad’s military, along with 265 other non-Syrian Shiite fighters. 27,746 opposition fighters have been killed, including 2,221 army defectors and 6,261 non-Syrian fighters.
As the conflict has spiralled out of control, both sides have been documented committing human rights abuses by an expert panel of UN investigators.Head of the UN office of the high commissioner for human rights, Navi Pillay, said that the investigators have produced a huge amount of evidence that “indicates responsibility at the highest level of government, including the head of state”.