Syria war killed over 3,700 in 2021, the lowest number in a decade

The ongoing decade-long war in Syria killed 3,746 this year, making it the lowest annual death count since the conflict began, a war monitor has revealed.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), 1,505 of those killed were civilians – amongst whom 360 were children – while the rest were reportedly soldiers and militants. Some 297 people were killed by landmines and various explosive devices and remnants.

The statistics released by SOHR make the number of those killed by conflict in Syria in 2021 the lowest in a decade, with 6,800 people killed last year and over 10,000 in 2019.

The decrease in the number of total deaths in the country is likely due to a number of factors, one of which is the end of much of the conflict in the country following the Assad regime’s recapture of most of the territory with the help of its allies Iran and Russia.

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Ceasefires have also been – at least temporarily – implemented, such as that in the north-west province of Idlib in March 2020, when Turkey and Russia struck an agreement to pause the fighting between the opposition groups and regime forces which were launching an offensive on the province. That ceasefire was renewed and extended this year.

Such ceasefires, however, have rarely been respected, and the regime’s attacks and Russia’s aerial strikes have resumed over the past year.

Various states view the reduction in fatalities and battles as a sign that Syria is now safe and largely at peace, but human rights organisations have denied that claim and condemned attempts to send millions of refugees back to the country against their will.

Numerous reports have revealed that refugees who return and former rebels who are “reconciled” are routinely detained, disappeared, tortured, and sometimes killed at the hands of the Syrian regime’s intelligence services.

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