SOHR: Nearly 10,000 people killed since al-Assad’s fall
Shafaq News – Damascus
Nearly 10,000 people have been killed across Syria following the collapse of President Bashar al-Assad’s government, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).
The watchdog documented 9,889 deaths, including 7,449 civilians—among them 396 children and 541 women—attributing widespread violations to both pro-government forces and armed non-state groups.
SOHR said that March 2025 was the deadliest month, with 2,644 deaths, most occurring during mass executions and attacks on security checkpoints in Syria’s coastal region. The group reported 1,726 executions that month alone. Another major spike came in late 2024, when 2,354 people—mostly civilians—were killed in similar violence in the same region. In July 2025, heavy fighting in the southern province of Suwayda left 1,733 people dead.
Over the eight-month period, the Observatory recorded more than 2,500 field executions, along with intensified shelling, targeted killings, and unexplained deaths. These included 866 people killed by forces under the Military Operations Administration, a coalition of security units now controlling parts of Syria, and 590 shot by unidentified gunmen.
At least 1,750 deaths occurred under unverifiable circumstances, while landmines and unexploded ordnance killed 571 people. SOHR also confirmed 50 torture-related deaths in detention facilities, most under the Military Operations Administration, with others occurring in the custody of the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
Non-civilian casualties over the same period totaled 2,440, including fighters from pro-government units, opposition factions, local militias, Kurdish forces, Iranian-backed groups, Turkish troops, and ISIS remnants.
The group criticized what it described as Syria’s entrenched culture of impunity, citing the “failure” of a government-appointed Fact-Finding Committee to publish findings on the coastal massacres. It also accused state media of discrediting rights monitors while fueling sectarian tensions.
