Syria Civil War Has Now Claimed the Lives of Nearly Half a Million People

Nearly half a million people died in the last decade in Syria, since the beginning of the war in March 2011 that resulted in a bloody war that has devastated the country and its population, according to the latest balance sheet of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
As documented by the NGO, based in London but with a wide network of collaborators on the ground, at least 494,438 people have lost their lives, 159,774 of whom were civilian victims, from March 15, 2011, when the war began, until May 30.
Among the civilian casualties are a total of 25,048 minors and 15,135 women, the Observatory detailed.
The Observatory’s new balance sheet is based on a six-month investigation in which the NGO was able to confirm the deaths of another 105,015 people, whose deaths could not be verified beforehand.
At least 42,103 civilians, including 2,748 children, are included in the new figure released Tuesday.
In addition to the dead, more than two million Syrian citizens were injured of varying severity or suffer permanent disabilities, according to the NGO, which added that another 13 million were left homeless.