True death toll of Syria is 160,000 and counting, warns human rights group

Harrowing figure released by Syrian Observatory for Human Rights

G roup said it documented 162,402 deaths since the uprising started

Figure includes civilians, rebels and members of the Syrian military

The U.N. has stopped updating its own tally of the Syrian dead

At least 160,000 people and counting have been killed in Syria's bloody civil war, a human rights group warned today.



The harrowing claim was made by the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which says it is the true death toll for the three-year conflict.

The group said it has documented 162,402 deaths since the uprising against President Bashar Assad's government began in March 2011.

Buildings destroyed by a Syrian government airstrike in Aleppo, Syria, on Saturday Locals to their neighborhoods in the old city of Homs, after two years of siege The figure includes civilians, rebels and members of the Syrian military, the Observatory said. It also includes militiamen, such as Lebanese Hezbollah members, who have been fighting alongside Assad's forces, and foreign fighters battling with the rebels for Assad's ouster.

The Observatory remains the sole organization providing a reliable tally of Syria's dead.

The U.N. has stopped updating its own tally of the Syrian dead, saying it can no longer verify the sources of information. The world body's last count in late July was 100,000 dead.

The Observatory bases its tally on information it gets from a network of activists on the ground in Syria.

The figures are based on the names of those killed, collected by activists who document the dead in hospitals, morgues and identify them from video materials.

A military vehicle that belongs to the Free Syrian Army is seen in Al-Amariya district in Aleppo

The U.N. has stopped updating its own tally of the Syrian dead, saying it can no longer verify the sources of information Devastation: Smoke rises from al-Hamdeya neighbourhood in Homs city

Smoke rises from Aleppo's central prison following a reported air strike by Syrian government forces during fighting with Syrian rebels

Of the 160,402 people that Observatory said have died in the conflict so far, about a third — or 53,978 — were civilians. Those deaths include 8,607 children and 5,586 women.

The uprising has also claimed the lives of 26,858 rebel fighters and 37,685 Syrian soldiers, the Observatory said.

The Syrian government does not publicise the number of its casualties.

A Syrian young inspecting the rubble of houses that were destroyed by airstrikes from the Syrian government forces in Aleppo

Forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad stand on debris at a hotel used by Assad's forces, in old Aleppo The group said it has documented 162,402 deaths since the uprising against President Bashar Assad's government began in March 2011 A man walks with children at a site hit by what activists said were barrel bombs dropped by government forces in Aleppo's Dahret Awwad neighbourhood

In addition, the Observatory said 25,147 pro-government fighters have also died on the battlefield, including 438 Hezbollah militants, and 1,224 Shiite foreign fighters and Palestinian militants.

From among foreign and other fighters who have sided with the rebels, 13,529 were killed, including members of the al-Qaida-linked group and other hard-line Islamic and Islamic leaning groups.

There are also 2,891 unidentified bodies in the conflict and 2,314 identified bodies of Syrian army troops, who have crossed over to the opposition side to fight the government.

Syria's uprising began with largely peace protests against Assad's rule. It has since then evolved into a civil war with sectarian overtones, pitting predominantly Sunni Muslim rebels against Assad's government that is dominated by Alawites, a sect in Shiite Islam.