London, Apr. 2 (ANI): The month of March has been the deadliest in Syria, with 6,000 people killed in the country, since protests against the government began two years ago, activists have said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a UK-based activist group, said it recorded 6,005 deaths last month, reports BBC News. It said victims included at least 291 women, 298 children, 1,486 rebel fighters and army defectors, and 1,464 government troops. The other casualties were unidentified civilians and fighters, it added. The anti-government group, which monitors human rights violations on both sides of the conflict via a network of contacts across Syria, said the total toll was much higher than the 62,554 deaths it has documented. The UN says more than 70,000 people have been killed in Syria since the uprising began. The movement of foreign media and independent human rights organisations has been severely curtailed within the country, making the verification of casualty figures almost impossible. The UK”s Department for International Development said that since the start of this year more people have been killed than in the entire first year of the conflict. The exodus of Syrians is also speeding up. More than one million are refugees. The strain of absorbing them, and periodic border clashes, risk destabilising Syria”s neighbours. Worst case scenarios include a regional war. Britain, France and the United States are getting closer to supporting the rebels with weapons and military training. They want to even up the military balance of power to open a space for a political solution that does not involve the Assads, but avoids a collapse of the state in the way that spread chaos in Libya and Iraq. (ANI)
