clear

Creating new perspectives since 2009

Syrian Observatory: More than 162,000 dead, 18,000 missing since the revolution erupted

May 20, 2014 at 12:06 pm

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has announced that the death toll in Syria’s three-year revolution has exceeded 162,000.

Amongst the dead there were more than 80,000 civilians, 8,600 children, 5,570 women, 27,000 rebel fighters and 2,300 Syrian army troops who defected and joined the rebels, the Observatory said in a statement issued on Monday.

The Observatory said that the number of Arab, European, American and Australian Islamist fighters has reached 13,500. They belonged to groups that include the Islamic Brigades, Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), Al-Nusra Front, Al-Aqsa’s Soldiers, Jund Al-Sham, and the Green Brigade. Also, 438 Hezbollah fighters have died since 2011.

The Observatory pointed out that these figures do not comprise more than 18,000 missing in the regime’s prisons or around 8,000 prisoners of war, some of whom belong to the regime’s army and pro-regime fighters; others belong to Islamic rebel fighters.

The Observatory believes that the overall death toll is higher than the figures that they are able to acquire. It noted that the disparity maybe attributed to the fact that none of the involved sides reveal the real figures of its fallen victims. The Observatory also cites the communication difficulties in remote areas as a reason behind the failure to keep record of all those getting killed in Syria.

The London-based human rights organisation called on international entities to push for an end to the bloodbath in Syria in light of the appalling numbers of human casualties.