A total of 10,204 civilians were killed in Syria in 2017, according to a report by the London-based Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) released on Monday.
The report said that the victims included 2,298 children and 1,536 women who were killed mainly in attacks by the Assad regime forces on populated areas.
According to the monitoring group, 569 people were killed in December of 2017, including 285 civilians who were killed by the Assad regime. It pointed out that 49 children were among the victims at a rate of two children every day. The figure also included 34 women and 15 people who died under torture in the prisons of the Assad regime.
The report indicated that 47 civilians, including 16 children and 14 women, were killed in Russian airstrikes. It noted that 96 civilians, including 20 children and six women, were killed by the ISIS extremist group. The victims also included 10 civilians, including two children and a woman who were killed by militias of the Democratic Union Party (PYD).
Moreover, the report said that 89 civilians including 38 children and 19 women were killed in airstrikes by the US-led anti-ISIS coalition. Forty civilians, including seven children and nine women, were killed by various actors in Syria. One civilian was killed by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham militant group.
The Network held the Assad regime direct responsibility for violations, including war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The report said Russia as well as all sectarian militias, including ISIS, are responsible for killings against Syrian civilians. It held these parties directly responsible for violations, crimes and massacres against the Syrian people.
The Network put forward a set of recommendations including calling on the UN Security Council to take additional measures to stop the indiscriminate bombardment that killed Syrian civilians and destroyed the country’s infrastructure a year after Un Security Council resolution 2139 was adopted.
The report called on the international community to exercise pressure on the countries and supporters of the Assad regime, most notably Iran, Russia and Hezbollah as well as to refer the situation in Syrian to the International Criminal Court to ensure that hold accountable all those involved in war crimes and crimes against humanity and in Syria. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department)
