Casualties of the Syrian civil war

 

Estimates of deaths in the Syrian civil war, per opposition activist groups, vary between 62,550^[1] and 74,470,^[1][2] the later figure combining several sources. On 13 February 2013, the United Nations put out an estimate of 70,000 that had died in the war.^[3]

UNICEF reported that over 500 children have been killed by early February 2012.^[4][5] Another 400 children have been reportedly arrested and tortured in Syrian prisons.^[6][7] Both claims have been contested by the Syrian government.^[8] Additionally, over 600 detainees and political prisoners have died under torture.^[9] By late March 2013, the opposition activist group SOHR reported the number of children killed in the conflict had risen to 4,390, while at the same time 2,726 women were also killed.^[1]

 

Overall deaths

 

The number of fatalities in the conflict, according to the Syrian opposition website Syrian Martyrs, is 59,183, updated to 21 March 2013.^[2] The number includes 8,025 rebels, including 42 foreign fighters, but does not include members of the government security forces or pro-government foreign combatants who have died.^[10] 505 foreign civilians who have died in the conflict are also included in the toll, most of them, 430, being Palestinians.^[11] The Syrian Martyrs number is significantly higher than the ones presented by other organisations, including the UN, one reason being they record deaths even when no name is given for the reportedly killed individualOpposition forces

 

Due to the opposition's policy of counting rebel fighters that were not defectors as civilians^[20][21][22] a comprehensive number of rebels killed in the conflict, thus far, has not been ascertained. In late November 2012, the opposition activist group SOHR estimated that at least 10,000 rebels had been killed, but noted the possibility of the figure being higher because the rebels, like the government, were lying about how many of their forces had died to make it look like they were winning.^[37] In March 2013, SOHR stated that the actual number of killed rebels and government forces could be double the number they were already able to document.^[1]