Syria war death toll exceeds 500,000 as Douma crisis worsens
More than half a million people have been killed in Syria since the war broke out in 2011, a monitor said yesterday.
Meanwhile, the rebel-held city of Douma faces a catastrophic situation after thousands flood to escape the government offensive on Eastern Ghouta.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said yesterday about 511,000 had been killed in the past seven years, of whom 350,000 have been identified.
The remainder are cases where the Observatory knows deaths occurred but does not have the victims’ names.
It said more than 19,800 children were among the dead.
The Observatory said about 85 per cent of the dead were killed by forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Al Assad, whose allies include Russia and the Lebanese group, Hezbollah.
Meanwhile, the UN children’s agency Unicef reported a 50 per cent increase in the number of children killed in the conflict last year compared with 2016.
“In 2017, extreme and indiscriminate violence killed the highest yet number of children – 50 per cent more
than 2016,” the UN agency said, and that this year had got off to a worse start.
As the war enters its eighth year, fighting continues in several areas, including Eastern Ghouta near the capital Damascus, Afrin near the Turkish border, and the southern province of Deraa.
Yesterday’s aerial attack on Deraa was the first on the area since the US and Russia brokered a deal to make it a non-combat zone last year, rebels and residents said.
The local council of Eastern Ghouta’s main town, Douma, said yesterday that the city faces what it called a catastrophic situation.
Since February 18, hundreds of people have been killed in the Syrian army’s offensive on the rebel-held area, which is their last major stronghold near the capital.
Government forces have captured more than half of the rebel enclave and have left Douma isolated.
Douma council said thousands of families were taking shelter in open streets and public gardens because basements and shelters were overcrowded.
Siraj Mahmoud, spokesman for Ghouta’s civil defence corps, said that what was happening in the area was not only the Syrian government’s fault, but also that of the international community.
“It is a crime by anyone who is watching the news and able to do something, but didn’t,” he told The National.
Mr Mahmoud said many residents compelled to expand their underground shelters to accommodate the newly displaced feel as though they are digging their graves.
“Civilians don’t have real shelters. They are more like graves they dig to protect themselves against the heavy bombing,” he said.
Many have found themselves buried in the shelters that they had hoped would protect them.
“There are many who are still under debris and we can’t take them out because of the heavy bombing, especially targeting the civil defence teams,” said Muayad Al Hafi, a civil defence volunteer.
Eastern Ghouta is now divided into three enclaves under the control of different rebel factions.
Hamza Berkdar is the official spokesman of Salafist Jaish Al Islam, which is now in control of Douma, on the northern side of Ghouta.
Conventional military wisdom is that attacking militaries suffer higher casualties than those defending territory, and Mr Berkdar said that over the course of the threeweek battle, rebels had killed more than 200 of the Syrian government’s forces.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 146 pro-government forces had been killed as of Saturday.
Mr Berkdar said the rebels were continuing to fight back, but that they were outmatched by the government and its allies.
“There were Russian officers in the operation room from which the regime directed its elements,” he said.
There have been increasing reports of negotiations between rebel and civilian representatives in Ghouta and the Syrian and Russian governments, and Mr Berkdar sounded as if he were trying to convince the civilian population to remain supportive of the rebels.
Mr Berkdar also said that some of the soldiers fighting rebels in Ghouta are conscripts from parts of Damascus that had surrendered to the government.
“Your destiny will be like the destiny of other areas in rural Damascus,” he said. “You will either be expelled or [you stay] and your sons will be sent to the frontlines to be killed defending the wrong side, such as what happened with the people of Al Tall or Barada Valley.”
Douma council appealed for international help, saying even burials of the dead at the main city cemetery had been suspended owing to the intensity of aerial bombardment.
At least 70 people were buried in a public park in Douma because aerial strikes made it difficult to reach the burial grounds on the outskirts of the city.
Residents said dozens of people were still alive under rubble, with rescuers unable to reach them because of the intensity of the raids. They also said the loss of remaining farmland to Assad forces would worsen the plight of civilians.
Reports from across Ghouta suggest civilians and rebel groups are in negotiations with the government and its allies