Syria records lowest annual death toll since war began: monitor

At least 3,825 people have died in Syria's war in 2022, the lowest yearly toll since the start of the conflict more than a decade ago, a war monitor said Saturday.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights had last year put the death toll at 3,746 throughout 2021, before revising it up to 3,882.

After years of deadly battle and bombardments following the brutal suppression of 2011 anti-government protests, the conflict has largely abated in the last three years.

Sporadic fighting at times breaks out and jihadist attacks continue, mainly in the east of the country.

Among those killed in 2022 were 1,627 civilians, including 321 children, according to the figures from the Observatory, which relies on a wide network of sources on the ground in Syria.

Of the civilians killed, 209 people -- about half of them children -- were killed by mines or other explosive devices.

In addition, 627 government security force personnel were killed along with 217 other fighters loyal to the regime of Bashar al-Assad, the Observatory said.

Some 387 members of the Syrian Democratic Forces and their allies were also among the dead.

The director of the Observatory, Rami Abdel Rahman, told AFP a large number of the deaths occurred due to security chaos and dozens of strikes launched by Israel.

The war has killed nearly half a million people since it broke out over a decade ago, displacing almost half of Syria's pre-war population.