Syria war has killed more than 350,000 in 7 years, monitor says

BEIRUT — Seven years of conflict in Syria have left more than 350,000 people dead, according to an updated overall death toll released Monday by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The Britain-based monitoring group, which relies on an extensive network of sources on the ground across Syria, said 353,935 people have been killed since March 15, 2011.

The conflict, which will enter its eighth year on Thursday, is taking a devastating toll on civilians, including in the ongoing regime assault on the rebel enclave of Eastern Ghouta, near Damascus where over 1,000 have been reported killed in the last three weeks alone.

According to the head of Observatory, 106,390 civilians have been killed in seven years.

Here is a breakdown of the deaths, according to the Observatory:

• 106,390 civilians, including 19,811 children and 12,513 women

• 63,820 regime soldiers

• 58,130 regime-allied and militia fighters (including 1,630 from Lebanon’s Hezbollah terror group and 7,686 from other foreign Shiite groups)

• 63,360 hardline Islamists and jihadists (including from the Islamic State group and a former Al-Qaeda affiliate)

• 62,039 fighters from other forces, including non-jihadist rebels, Kurdish forces and defected government soldiers

• 196 identity unknown but death documented