Syria: Death Toll Nears 30,000
According to the latest figures from the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights (SOHR) released Thursday, more than 29,000 people have been killed since March 2011, most of them civilians. Today, at least 110 civilians have been killed or injured in an air raid in the Syrian province of Raqa, reported the London-based NGO.
“Until Wednesday (September 19) at least 20,755 civilians, 1,148 deserters and 7,095 soldiers have been killed across Syria since the outbreak of the revolt,” said Rami Abdel Rahman, director of SOHR.
Not included in the toll are thousands of civilians who were arrested without charge and have died in prison, said Abdel Rahman. He added that he believes that the number of soldiers is higher than announced by the regime.
Meanwhile, the Syrian Minister of National Reconciliation said Thursday that the military operation against armed militias was “satisfactory and progressive” and gained concrete results in less than a month. Ali Haidar made these remarks at a press conference in Damascus, where the Syrian army has been campaigning for “cleansing” various districts.
Commenting on the new mission of the Joint Special Representative of the UN and the Arab League for Syria Lakhdar Brahimi, Haidar said that the latter was trying to gather information to develop ways to cope with the crisis. He added that Syria was trying to “fully cooperate” with the envoy.
Haidar said that the Syrian regime headed towards a political settlement, and that the government sought to engage in a national dialogue.
