ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Nearly 11,000 people, including over 1,000 women and children, have been killed in Syria since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in December, a war monitor reported on Wednesday, highlighting the continuation of widespread violence and human rights abuses.
“During this period, multiple patterns of violations were monitored, including extrajudicial killings, field executions, kidnappings, torture, and random targeting of civilians, alongside armed attacks and repeated bombings in different areas of the country,” said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor.
It noted that constant attacks, including bombardment by Turkish and Israeli forces, have led to “increased suffering of civilian populations, especially women and children.”
The monitor documented the deaths of 10,955 people across the country during the period covered by the report, including 8,422 civilians, among them 463 children and 636 women, while 3,054 cases of field executions were reported.
Since the new authorities took over, Syria has seen waves of sectarian and regional violence.
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Violent clashes broke out in early March between Syrian security forces and loyalists of ousted former President Bashar al-Assad along the western coast of the country after 16 security personnel were killed in an ambush by pro-Assad militants.
The incident prompted a violent retaliatory spree from the security forces, which was widely condemned by regional and international states and bodies. At least 1,400 people, mostly Alawite civilians, were killed in the violence, according to verified figures.
Armed hostilities also erupted in the southern Suwayda province on July 13, with Bedouin tribal groups clashing with internal security forces in the Druze-majority area.
The subsequent clashes saw the deployment of Syrian security forces, leading to allegations that they had joined forces with the Sunni Bedouin tribes against the Druze religious minority.
The Observatory estimated around 2,000 casualties during the clashes in Suwayda.
Damascus also clashed with Kurdish forces in the north until they reached a ceasefire on Tuesday.
“The Observatory demands the prosecution of all perpetrators of crimes and violations, without exception, regardless of the party or group to which they belong, to ensure justice is served and those responsible for the violations that have claimed the lives of thousands of civilians over the past years are held accountable,” it said.
The new Damascus authorities have come under repeated criticism for failing to protect the minorities in the country.