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Civilian deaths in September lowest in Syria war: monitor
BEIRUT, Oct 1, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – The number of civilians killed last month
in Syria was at its lowest since the start of the conflict more than seven
years ago, a war monitor said Monday.
A total of 139 civilians, including 58 children, were killed in conflict-
related violence across the country in September, according to the Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights.
Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said it was “the lowest monthly toll
for civilians” since the start of the conflict in March 2011.
Of the 1,059 people who died last month, 436 were rebel fighters, 239
soldiers and allied militiamen, and 236 were jihadists. The identity of nine
others was unknown.
The decline in the number of civilian casualties comes after months of
Russian-backed government operations that saw Damascus reconquer significant
territory.
It also coincides with a deal reached on September 17 by Russia and Turkey
— two of the main foreign brokers in the Syrian conflict — aimed at
averting a major assault in the northern Idlib region.
The province of Idlib is home to the last major rebel bastion in the
country and aid groups had feared a full-blown regime offensive would spark
suffering on a scale not yet seen since the start of the war.
Fighting is also ongoing in eastern Syria, where holdout jihadist fighters
from the Islamic State group are defending their last pocket in the country.
The Britain-based Observatory relies on an extensive network of sources
across Syria, where it says close to 365,000 people have been killed since
the start of the war.
More than 110,000 of them are civilians, it says.
The highest monthly number of civilian deaths the Observatory ever recorded
was 6,657 in May 2015.
BSS/AFP/MRI/2135 HRS