The human cost of the war in Syria

WITH no end in sight, Syria's civil war is boiling over into the surrounding region. On October 5th, the day after mortar attacks on a Turkish town presumably by Syria's army killed five people, the Turkish parliament authorised the army to invade Syria, if necessary. Since then, Turkish troops have returned fire every day as Bashar Assad's forces continue sporadic shelling across the border. Turkey is already host to 94,000 of the 328,000 refugees who are known to have fled to neighbouring countries, says the UN's refugee agency, including over 5,000 who have made it as far as north Africa. The UN expects this to rise to 700,000 people by the end of the year. A further 18,000 have sought asylum in Europe since the uprising began in March 2011. Meanwhile, millions are trapped in the country, with agencies distributing food aid to 1.5m people. Over 31,000 people have died in the conflict so far, according to the Centre for Documentation of Violations in Syria, around 25,000 of whom are thought to have been civilians. A similar number are reckoned to be being detained without trial. As the army continues its sustained assault with little fear of immediate international reprisal, and fighters enter the country to join an increasingly radicalised opposition, the high cost of the war on Syria's people is set to rise.