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125 civilians killed in Syria in May, report finds

June 2, 2020 at 1:15 pm

Syrians are seen inside a heavily damaged house after the Assad Regime carried out air strikes in Syria on 5 April 2020 [Muhammed Abdullah/Anadolu Agency]

Some 125 civilians have been killed in Syria throughout the month of May alone, eight as a result of torture, according to a report released by the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) yesterday.

The 18-page report, which details the number and causes of the killings, as well as the perpetrators of them, found that 26 children and six women were among those killed. Adding that ten civilians were killed by the Syrian regime, one by allied Russian forces, seven by loyalist militias, and the remaining 107 by other groups and militias.

Eight civilians died of torture, with seven of those victims while detained by the regime’s intelligence services and one while being held by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG).

Five civilians were killed in a massacre in May.

READ: Syria regime, Russia guilty of deliberate war crimes against civilians, says Amnesty

In its monthly report, the SNHR called on the United Nations to hold all parties responsible to account, particularly Russia as a foreign power which has long been known to commit human rights violations and war crimes within the country during the ongoing nine-year-long civil war.

The human rights network also called on the UN to conduct further humanitarian aid missions into Syria in order to provide essential supplies such as food and medical materials to the areas where fighting has ceased. It cited camps for internally displaced persons as being particularly in need.