Over 2,200 killed in Syria in April: watchdog

Published May 1st, 2015 - 06:30 GMT
The count includes deaths resulting from Daesh and other extremist parties operating in Syria, as well as Syrian regime bombings across the country. (AFP/File)
The count includes deaths resulting from Daesh and other extremist parties operating in Syria, as well as Syrian regime bombings across the country. (AFP/File)

The civil war in Syria killed 2,231 people in April - 95 percent of them civilians, the Syrian Network for Human Rights has said.

Regime forces' attacks resulted in 1,884 deaths over the month, including 1,519 civilians of which 269 were children and 192 women, the  SNHR said in a report on Friday.

The number of opposition fighters killed by Daesh was rising rapidly while radical groups, including Daesh killed 220 people, in the month, it added.

A third of all attacks targeted women and children, which showed civilians were being purposely targeted, the group said.

The numbers were obtained by activists who accessed various cities around the country, but many other places were unreachable due to an ongoing blockade, lack of communication and the regime of President Bashar al-Assad not allowing organizations to work on the ground.

ICC referral call

The report said the United Nations Security Council had failed to implement any resolution which it had adopted on Syria, and the Council must put pressure on countries such as Russia, Iran and Lebanon which support the Syrian regime.

The SNHR held the regime and its supporters responsible for the unending bloodshed in Syria, urging the international community to empower the International Criminal Court to look into the war.

Triggered by a bloody crackdown on peaceful protests in 2011 by the Assad regime, which has ruled the country over four decades, the war has left the country in ruins.

It resulted in the killing of more than 200,000 people, and displaced half the population.

Nearly four million Syrians have sought refuge in neighboring countries, with most of them going to Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq.

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