Casualties of the Syrian civil war

Human toll of the Syrian civil war
Pre-war population 22 ±.5; Internally displaced 6 ±.5, Refugees 5.5 ±.5, Fatalities 0.5 ±.1 (millions)[citation needed]
Syrian refugees
By countryEgypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey
SettlementsCamps: Jordan
Internally displaced Syrians
Casualties of the war
CrimesWar crimes, massacres, rape
Return of refugees, Refugees as weapons, Prosecution of war criminals
Doctors and medical staff treating injured rebel fighters and civilians in Aleppo

Estimates of the total number of deaths in the Syrian Civil War, by various war monitors, range between 580,000 as of May 2021,[1] and approximately 617,910 as of March 2024.[2] In late September 2021, the United Nations stated it had documented the deaths of at least 350,209 "identified individuals" in the conflict between March 2011 and March 2021, but cautioned the figure was "certainly an under-count" that specified only a "minimum verifiable number".[3][4][5]

The most violent year of the conflict was 2014, when around 110,000 people were killed.[6] In April 2016, UN envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura stated that more than 400,000 people were killed in the Syrian civil war.[7] By mid-March 2022, opposition activist group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported the number of children killed in the conflict had risen to 25,857, and that 15,761 women had also been killed.[2]

On 28 June 2022, the United Nations Human Rights Office (OHCHR) stated that at least 306,887 civilians had been killed in Syria during the conflict between March 2011 and March 2021, representing about 1.5% of its pre-war population. This figure did not include indirect and non-civilian deaths.[8][9] As of May 2021, according to the GCR2P NGO, a minimum of 580,000 people is estimated to have been killed; with 13 million Syrians being displaced and 6.7 million refugees forced to flee Syria. Government forces reportedly arrested and tortured numerous repatriated refugees, subjecting them to forced disappearances and extrajudicial executions.[1]

As of February 2015, the UNHCR has designated the conflict as the "world's worst humanitarian crisis", while the head of the UNHRC's commission for Syria stated the Syrian government was responsible for the majority of civilian casualties up to that point.[10] The Syrian Network for Human Rights estimated the Syrian government and its foreign allies to be responsible for 91% of the total civilian casualties.[11][12][13] According to the pro-opposition SOHR, 87% of all civilian deaths it had documented were caused by government or pro-government forces.[14]

  1. ^ a b "Syria". GCR2P. 30 November 2023. Archived from the original on 2 June 2023.
  2. ^ a b "Syrian Revolution 13 years on | Nearly 618,000 persons killed since the onset of the revolution in March 2011". SOHR. 15 March 2024. Retrieved 15 March 2024.
  3. ^ "Syria war: UN calculates new death toll". BBC News. September 24, 2021. Archived from the original on October 1, 2021. Retrieved October 1, 2021.
  4. ^ "Oral update on the extent of conflict-related deaths in the Syrian Arab Republic". United Nations-OHCHR. 24 September 2021. Archived from the original on 25 June 2022.
  5. ^ "Syria: 10 years of war has left at least 350,000 dead". UN News. 24 September 2021. Archived from the original on 10 November 2021.
  6. ^ "Assad backers reportedly make up 43 percent of dead in Syria". mcclatchydc. Archived from the original on 2015-11-09. Retrieved 28 October 2015.
  7. ^ Hudson, John (22 April 2016). "U.N. Envoy Revises Syria Death Toll to 400,000". FP. Archived from the original on 5 May 2016.
  8. ^ Farge, Emma (2022-06-28). "War has killed 1.5% of Syria's population: UN estimate". Reuters. Archived from the original on 2022-06-28. Retrieved 2022-06-28.
  9. ^ "UN Human Rights Office estimates more than 306,000 civilians were killed over 10 years in Syria conflict". Ohchr.org. Archived from the original on 1 July 2022. Retrieved 1 July 2022.
  10. ^ "Syria's Assad responsible for majority of civilian casualties: UN official". Middle East Eye. 13 February 2015. Archived from the original on 26 August 2022.
  11. ^ "Assad, Iran, Russia committed 91% of civilian killings in Syria". Middle East Monitor. 20 June 2022. Archived from the original on 4 January 2023.
  12. ^ "Civilian Death Toll". SNHR. September 2022. Archived from the original on 5 March 2022.
  13. ^ "2020 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Syria". U.S Department of State. Archived from the original on 2 July 2022.
  14. ^ Cite error: The named reference nonSyrianKurds was invoked but never defined (see the help page).