Syria Death Toll Hits 162,000
Reuters reports that after three years of conflict, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has estimated the country’s death toll to be “at least” 162,000.
The Britain-based, opposition-backed watchdog group said that losses among government fighters “were higher than those among pro-rebel groups, and that at least 54,000 civilians had been killed since the conflict began. It estimated 62,800 deaths among the army, pro-Assad Syrian militia, Lebanese Hezbollah fighters and other foreign Shiite gunmen.
“That compared with 42,700 people who had died on the rebel side, including fighters from al-Qaida’s al-Nusra Front, other Islamist brigades and soldiers who defected from Assad’s army. Nearly 3,000 people of unknown identity or affiliation had been killed, it said.”
But the Observatory also warned that all parties play down their losses, meaning that the overall death toll could be as much as 70,000 higher, bringing it to 230,000.
Meanwhile, the New York Times reported that the 162,000 figure included “an increase of more than 10,000 [dead] in less than two months. The U.N., the paper added, stopped updating its Syria death toll earlier this year, citing the growing difficulty of verifying figures.
Nearly 60 Countries Back Move to Bring Syria to the ICC
The BBC reports that “nearly 60 countries led by Switzerland have expressed support for a French proposal to produce Syria before the International Criminal Court (ICC). They are calling on the ICC to investigate possible crimes against humanity and war crimes.
“Swiss ambassador to the U.N. Paul Seger issued an appeal on behalf of the group to the Security Council to adopt a draft resolution over the issue. However such a resolution is likely to be opposed by China and Russia.”
France has led the charge, arguing repeatedly for the ICC to investigate war crimes in Syria. If Assad allies Russia and China veto the proposal, as is widely assumed, the network says it will be the fourth time they have fended off Western resolutions at the U.N. since the beginning of the crisis.
After Resigning, Brahimi Says Iran’s Syria Plan ‘Worth Discussing’
In an interview with al-Monitor, former U.N. Syria envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, who resigned the post earlier this month, said an Iranian proposal for a political solution to the Syrian crisis is “worth considering.”
“I told the Security Council the other day, one of the hopeful signs, maybe a straw that you are trying to catch out of this desperate situation, is that the Iranians have been saying let’s get all the foreign fighters out,” he told the online magazine’s editor-in-chief, Andrew Parasiliti.
“They must mean also Hezbollah, and the Iraqis and their own,” said Brahimi. He added that discussing Iran’s four-point proposal “does not mean taking it all as it is. But I think it is one of the elements you can discuss.”
Brahimi also said that “in Syria, things were polarized,” and that on one side was the view that there could not be a solution involving Assad, “while the other side said there cannot be a solution without Bashar al-Assad. This is the circle that everybody tried to square, and failed, and to a certain degree it is still the question that is to be resolved.”
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