2019 is the least deadly year in Syria since the start of the conflict in March 2011, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH) announced on Tuesday, reporting the death of 11,215 people in the past twelve months. Among the victims are 3,473 civilians, including 1,021 children, according to the OSDH, which has a vast network of sources across Syria at war.
Several front lines were ablaze in 2019, notably in eastern Syria where Kurdish and Arab fighters, supported by an international coalition led by Washington, declared in March the end of the jihadist caliphate of the Islamic State group (IS). In addition, during the summer, the regime supported by the aviation of the Russian ally intensified the bombardments on the province of Idleb, dominated by other jihadists. In the North-East, the Turkish neighbor and Syrian auxiliaries launched an offensive to remove from the border the fighters of the main Syrian Kurdish militia, considered by Ankara as a "terrorist" group but allied with the West in the fight against jihadism.
370,000 dead since 2011
The conflict started in March 2011 with bloody repression by the regime of peaceful protests demanding democratic reforms, in the wake of the Arab Spring. Opponents of President Bashar al-Assad then took up arms. The war has become more complex over the years with the involvement of foreign powers and jihadist groups, in an increasingly fragmented territory.
Since 2015, the Damascus government, supported by its Russian and Iranian allies, has multiplied the victories against the rebels and the jihadists, until regaining control of more than 60% of the territory. The conflict has killed more than 370,000 people since 2011, and thrown millions of Syrians on the road to exile.
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