September has been the deadliest month so far in the Syrian conflict, a monitoring group has said.
With more than 3,055 people killed, last month has been the most fatal in the six year civil war, according to the London based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).
The group documented 955 civilian deaths including 207 children under the age of 18, and 148 women over the age of 18.
Of the civilian casualties, more than 70 per cent are said to have been caused by US air raids carried out by the US-led coalition and Russian war planes.
According to SOHR, Russian and Syrian forces have caused more civilian casualties than US-led strikes. The group said that “395 including 92 children and 71 citizen women were killed in raids by Syrian and Russian warplanes and by regime’s helicopters on several areas of Syria” and “282 including 68 children and 45 citizen women were killed in airstrikes by the warplanes of the international coalition”.
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The highest civilian casualty figures were caused by rocket and artillery shells, missiles believed to be ground-to-ground, targeting sniper bullets. SOHR reported 91 fatalities in this manner including 22 children and 10 citizen women.
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Some 47 people including five children and five women were killed in landmine explosions. A further 29, including three children and five women, are believed to have been executed by the regime forces.
Amongst people directly involved in the fighting, Syrian opposition fighters suffered the most casualties with 550 losses while regime forces experienced 322 losses. Hezbollah and other non-Syrian militia groups fighting in the war saw 100 members of their militia killed in combat.