39,000 people killed in Syria war in 2017, monitor says
Weedah Hamzah and Ramadan Al-Fatash
BEIRUT, Weedah Hamzah and Ramadan Al-Fatash (dpa)- About 39,000 people, including 10,507 civilians, were killed in the war in Syria in 2017, a monitoring group reported on Thursday.
The fatalities included 2,109 children and 1,492 women, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The tally included 2,923 government soldiers and 7,494 militant fighters, mainly from Islamic State and the al-Qaeda group Jabhat Fatah al-Sham, previously known as al-Nusra Front.
Around 212 fighters from Lebanon's Hezbollah movement, allied with the Syrian government, were also killed in the violence, according to the Britain-based Observatory, which relies on a network of activists inside war-torn Syria.
This year has seen the establishment of several de-escalation zones in Syria aimed at curbing violence in the country.
The zones were created by Turkey, a long-time backer of rebels, in conjunction with Russia and Iran, the two main supporters of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
The Observatory said it had documented 49,742 deaths in Syria's violence in 2016.
Syria's crisis began with peaceful anti-government demonstrations in March 2011.
The conflict soon spiralled into a multi-sided civil war that has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives and displaced about half of Syria's pre-war population of 22 million.
More than 494,000 people are estimated to have been killed in the conflict, according to the Observatory.
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Around 212 fighters from Lebanon's Hezbollah movement, allied with the Syrian government, were also killed in the violence, according to the Britain-based Observatory, which relies on a network of activists inside war-torn Syria.
This year has seen the establishment of several de-escalation zones in Syria aimed at curbing violence in the country.
The zones were created by Turkey, a long-time backer of rebels, in conjunction with Russia and Iran, the two main supporters of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
The Observatory said it had documented 49,742 deaths in Syria's violence in 2016.
Syria's crisis began with peaceful anti-government demonstrations in March 2011.
The conflict soon spiralled into a multi-sided civil war that has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives and displaced about half of Syria's pre-war population of 22 million.
More than 494,000 people are estimated to have been killed in the conflict, according to the Observatory.
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