Over 1,000 civilians killed in Syria in 2023

Over 1,000 civilians were killed in Syria in 2023, mostly by Syrian regime forces and allied militias, the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) said on 1 January.

SNHR said that killing "has been committed in a systematic manner primarily by Syrian regime forces and pro-regime militias".

Among those killed were over 250 children, as well as more than 130 people died as a result of torture. The Syrian regime also arbitrarily arrested over 2,300 people in 2023.

The rights group added that the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) killed the second highest number of civilians, followed by Russian forces and the former al-Qaeda affiliate Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).

Last year saw almost the same number of civilians killed across Syria as in 2022.

Syria has been engulfed in violence since the regime brutally cracked down on peaceful protesters in 2011. Since then, hundreds of thousands have been killed, with the most deaths attributed to the Syrian regime itself.

According to SNHR, the Syrian regime does not issue death certificates for the majority of those it kills, except in very narrow circumstances. Most families of those killed do not request death certificates from the regime for fear of being associated with a dissident or opponent to the regime.

Two out of every five civilians that died last year was killed in the northeastern province of Deir ez-Zour or the southern governorate of Daraa.

In 2023, Deir ez-Zour saw a rising conflict with the SDF, as the Arab tribes that are native to the province object to what they say is unrepresentative rule of the Kurdish militia which controls the area. It is also plagued with the remnants of the so-called Islamic State (IS) which continues to carry out attacks via its sleeper cells despite its territorial defeat in 2019.

Daraa, popularly called the cradle of Syria's revolution for its prominent role in initial protests in 2011, remains plagued by insecurity and violence despite its reconquering by the regime in 2018.

The southern province has been embroiled by violence between former opposition fighters and what residents say are regime-backed militias since the regime reclaimed the territory.

On the first of the new year, the regime killed six civilians and injured 11 others in shelling on the northern province of Aleppo, according to the Syrian Civil Defence, also known as the White Helmets.

The UN has consistently called for a nationwide ceasefire in Syria, a call which has gone unheeded by all parties involved.