SOHR: over 4,360 deaths in 2023 in Syria

Shafaq News/ The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported that the death toll in Syria in 2023 has surpassed 4,360, marking an increase from the 3,800 reported fatalities in 2022.

According to the Observatory, the 2023 casualties included 1,889 civilians, comprising 241 women and 307 children. Among them were 898 members of the Syrian army forces and approximately 600 fighters affiliated with them, representing Syrian and non-Syrian nationalities.

The remaining fatalities are from ISIS members, "anti-Syrian regime factions," as well as the Syrian Democratic Forces, Kurdish units, and associated formations.

Despite a gradual reduction in the intensity of battles over the past three years, particularly in the Idlib Governorate in the northwest, where Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham controls a significant portion of the area, intermittent conflict continues.

Since the announcement of ISIS's elimination in 2019, the organization's fighters, primarily retreating to remote desert areas, have targeted Kurdish fighters and Syrian regime forces. Significant territories, including agricultural plains and oil and gas wells, remain outside the government's control, notably in Kurdish-controlled areas (northeast), regions in and around Idlib, and zones controlled by pro-Ankara factions in the northern part of the country.

Since the conflict erupted in 2011, Syria has witnessed the loss of over half a million lives, extensive damage to infrastructure and the economy, and the displacement of more than half of the population within Syria or to seek refuge abroad.