General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Give Obama a Fucking Break [View all]polly7
(20,582 posts)Assad backers reportedly make up 43 percent of dead in Syria
BEIRUT A new count of the dead in Syria by the group thats considered the most authoritative tracker of violence there has concluded that more than 40 percent were government soldiers and pro-government militia members.
The new numbers from the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights provide a previously unseen view of the toll the civil war has taken on communities that have supported the government. They also cast doubt on the widely repeated assertion that the government of President Bashar Assad is responsible for an overwhelming majority of the deaths there.
According to the new statistics, which the Syrian Observatory passed to McClatchy by phone, at least 96,431 people have lost their lives in the more than two years of violence thats wracked Syria.
Of those, Syrian soldiers and members of the governments security forces account for 24,617, while members of pro-government militias make up 17,031. Taken together, those deaths account for 43.2 percent of the total recorded.
Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/06/03/192881/assad-backers-reportedly-make.html#.UipTbsbUmSr#storylink=cpy
And if it needs to be added ..... of course, one civilian death is too many.