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Syria civilian death toll at highest ever

THE first 10 years of Syria’s conflict killed more than 300,000 civilians, the United Nations has said – the highest official estimate to date of conflict-related civilian deaths in the country.

The conflict began with antigovernment protests that broke out in March 2011, demanding democratic reforms following the Arab Spring protests that removed some leaders who had been in power for decades. However, it quickly turned into a full-blown civil war that killed hundreds of thousands of people and destroyed large parts of the country.

The report published yesterday by the UN Human Rights Office followed what it said were rigorous assessment and statistical analysis of the available data on civilian casualties.

According to the report, 306,887 civilians are estimated to have been killed in Syria between March 2011 and 2021 due to the conflict.

The report, mandated by the UN Human Rights Council, cited 143,350 civilian deaths individually documented by various sources with detailed information, including at least their full name, date and location of death.

The figures released do not include soldiers and insurgents killed in the conflict – their numbers are believed to be in the tens of thousands.

The numbers cited in the report also does not include people who were buried by their families without being registered.

UN high commissioner for human rights Michelle Bachelet said: “These are the people killed as a direct result of war operations. This does not include ... civilians who died due to the loss of access to healthcare, to food, to clean water and other essential human rights.”