BEIRUT
\nSyria\u2019s war has killed more than 507,000 people, a war monitor said Thursday ahead of the 13th anniversary of the conflict which has displaced millions at home and abroad.
\nThe government\u2019s brutal suppression of an uprising that erupted on March 15, 2011, triggered a full-scale civil war that drew in foreign armies and international militants.
\nThe Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, said more than 164,000 civilians, including more than 15,000 women and 25,000 children, have been killed.
\nMore than 343,000 combatants, including army soldiers, fighters from pro-Iran groups, Kurdish-led forces and Daesh group militants, are also among the dead, added the Observatory, which has a network of sources across the country.
\nThe overall figure has risen from around 503,000 last March, with the frontlines mostly quietening in recent years.
\nSyrian President Bashar Assad has gradually clawed back territory lost early in the fighting with help from allies Iran and Russia, but large swathes of the north remain outside government control.
\nThe United Nations has said that this year, 16.7 million people in Syria require some type of humanitarian assistance or protection, \u201cthe largest number since the beginning of the crisis in 2011.\u201d
\nThe war has ravaged Syria\u2019s economy, infrastructure and industry, while Western sanctions have added to the country\u2019s woes.
\nSyria is home to around 7.2 million internally displaced people, the UN says, with a devastating earthquake that struck Turkiye and Syria in February last year compounding the problem.
\nNinety percent of the population is living in poverty, but UN humanitarian official David Carden said last week that funding challenges could affect aid deliveries and services.
\nSuhair Zakkout, Damascus-based spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross, said 13 years of war have had \u201cdevastating consequences\u201d on Syrians across the country, causing \u201cunimaginable pain.\u201d
\n\u201cSyria has a full generation… who has only witnessed the loss, the displacement, the war, and they know nothing but these things,\u201d Zakkout said.
\nHumanitarian organizations are working \u201cto sustain the minimum level of the basic services\u201d such as water and health so that \u201cthey don\u2019t collapse,\u201d Zakkout said.
\nUN-facilitated efforts toward a political process remain stalled.
\nSpecial envoy Geir Pedersen said last month that Moscow and Damascus had rejected holding talks in Geneva, the venue for previous negotiations aimed at forging a new constitution for Syria.
\nLast year, Syria returned to the Arab League, marking Assad\u2019s return to the regional fold after a suspension of more than a decade.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BEIRUT Syria\u2019s war has killed more than 507,000 people, a war monitor said Thursday ahead of the 13th anniversary of the conflict which has displaced millions at home and abroad. The government\u2019s brutal suppression of an uprising that erupted on March 15, 2011, triggered a full-scale civil war that drew in foreign armies and international […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":393880,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-393852","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n