DAMASCUS (Dispatches) – At least 350,209 people have been killed in the decade-old foreign-backed war in Syria, the United Nations human rights office said in its first report since 2014 on the death toll, adding that the tally was an “undercount”, Reuters reports.
The figure is based on strict methodology requiring the full name of the deceased, as well as an established date and location of death.
“On this basis, we have compiled a list of 350,209 identified individuals killed in the conflict in Syria between March 2011 to March 2021,” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet told the Human Rights Council.
One in every 13 victims was a woman or a child, she said.
“It indicates a minimum verifiable number, and is certainly an under-count of the actual number of killings,” she added.
Since 2011, Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy, leading to the emergence of Daesh and other terrorist groups in the country.
The U.S. has also been maintaining an illegal military presence on Syrian soil, collaborating with terrorists against Syria’s legitimate government, stealing the country’s crude oil resources, bombing the positions of the Syrian army and anti-terror popular forces, and imposing crippling sanctions on Damascus.
In the latest developments, the Syrian Army has entered several towns in southern Dara’a province, where terrorists handed over their arms under a truce agreement proposed by the government last month.
Units of the Army entered the towns of Tal Shihab and Zaizoun on Thursday, official SANA news agency reported.
In the town of Da’el, dozens of wanted terrorists and military service deserters handed over their arms to the Syrian Army, in return for going back to normal life.
The Syrian Army opened main and secondary roads in Dara’a and the army’s bulldozers removed debris from the area.
The establishment of full government control over Dara’a is highly important since the province borders the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights which the Zionist regime has used to treat wounded terrorists fighting against the Syrian government since 2011.
Besides military gains, recent political developments seem to be in favor of Syria as well. Some observers believe the developments could end Syria’s regional and international isolation.
Last Sunday, Syrian Defense Minister General Ali Ayoub went to meet his Jordanian counterpart General Yousef Heunieti, marking the first meeting at that level in a decade.
Earlier this month, energy ministers from Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Egypt came together in the Jordanian capital, Amman, where they agreed that Lebanon, which is going through crippling fuel shortages, would import Egyptian gas and Jordanian electricity via Syria.