The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) said that the Assad regime and its allies are responsible for the death of more than 200,000 people in Syria, noting that the figure could be much higher.
In a new report issued on the occasion of the eighth anniversary of the Syrian revolution, the Network gave a rundown of the total number of victims, the violations and attacks amounting to war crimes and crimes against humanity under the international law and the international humanitarian law.
The monitoring group pointed out that the Assad regime and its Russian and Iranian allies have killed no fewer than 205,000 people in Syria since March 2011. The figure accounts for 92 percent of the total number of deaths in Syria, it said, adding that it compiled a list of the names of 223,161 civilians who have been killed in Syria since March 2011. It note that the victims included 28,486 children and 15,425 women.
The report talked about the Assad regime’s use of chemical weapons in the ongoing conflict. It listed at least 221 CW attacks, 216 of which were carried out by the Assad regime and five others by the ISIS extremist group.
The Network said that it had recorded the use of cluster munitions in at least 441 attacks in Syria since March 2011, 201 of which were launched by the Assad regime forces and 232 others by the Russian forces.
The report also listed 149 attacks with incendiary weapons on residential areas, 125 of which were carried out by Russian forces, 19 by regime forces, and five others by the international anti-ISIS coalition forces.
The Network said that the Assad regime’s air force dropped about 77,146 barrel bombs on residential areas since July 18, 2012 the first time this weapon was used in the conflict.
Moreover, the report indicated that there were 12,716 people still detained or forcibly disappeared in the prisons of the Assad regime. It noted that the militia of the Democratic Union Party (PYD) still detains at least 2,705 people.
The report also noted that the ISIS extremist group detained at least 8,143 people since mid-2014, while Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham militant group detained at least 1,724 others.
The report also highlighted other types of violations by the Assad regime against civilians such as the siege and starvation of people in the liberated areas. It noted that at least 921 civilians, including 398 children and 187 women were starved to death as a result of the Assad regime’s blocking of the delivery of food and medicine to these areas.
The Network highlighted the mass forced displacement of civilians as an absolute human tragedy. It noted that some 14.2 million people have been forcibly displaced since March 2011, including eight million inside Syria and some 6.2 million others to outside Syria. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department)