May sees ‘lowest monthly civilian toll’ in Syrian war

BEIRUT — Fewer civilians died in May than in any other month of Syria’s seven-year war, a monitor says Friday, with less than 250 civilians killed across the country.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says 244 civilians were killed last month, including 58 children and 33 women.

It was the “lowest monthly death toll for civilians since the start of the Syrian revolution” in 2011, the Britain-based monitor says.

It comes after government troops secured a string of areas around Damascus, including the former rebel bastion of Eastern Ghouta in April as well as several towns to the capital’s northeast and south.

Those wins came with fierce bombing campaigns over several months that left hundreds dead and even more wounded, but ultimately ended in regime victory.

War fronts were relatively quiet in May, with the regime focused on ousting the Islamic State terror group from a pocket of southern Damascus.

But government bombardment was still behind the highest proportion of casualties, according to the Observatory.

Regime shelling and air strikes killed 77 civilians in May, it says, while 19 died in air raids by regime ally Russia.

Thirty-nine civilians lost their lives in air strikes by the US-led coalition fighting IS, while two were executed by the jihadists.

Syria’s war has killed a total of more than 350,000 people and displaced millions since it started in mid-March 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests.

— AFP