The overall death toll for Syria’s civil war has reached 388,652 since it began a decade ago this month, a war monitor said on Sunday.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the figures includes almost 117,388 civilians, among them more than 22,000 children.

Attacks by the Syrian regime and allied militia forces accounted for the majority of civilian deaths, said the Britain-based monitor which relies on sources inside Syria for its reports.

The Observatory’s previous tally was issued in December and stood at more than 387,000.

Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said 2020 saw the lowest annual death toll since the war began with just over 10,000 deaths.

Battles slowed this year as a cease-fire held in northwestern Syria and attention turned to containing the coronavirus pandemic.

The Observatory also documented at least 16,000 deaths in government prisons and detention centers since the conflict erupted in 2011 after the brutal repression of anti-regime protests.

AFP