Casualty figures continue to fall through the month of Ramadan (however
see footnote highlighted below). The figures are very different from those of
July 2012. There is a significant drop in civilian casualty figures showing the
shift in the nature of the conflict and the way it has become increasingly
militarised. There is no credible data available on the numbers of foreign
fighters killed in the conflict.
According
to NCF figures, the war dead total for July stands at 2,726. The UN says that
more than 100,000 people have been killed in the Syrian conflict and NCF
figures support this contention. We will be making available all our background
data over the coming couple of days, as is our practice. Background data thus
far for the current period is on this link to the NCF website where a weekly
breakdown of the figures according to provinces is currently being made
available and will be complete within a day or two:
The
majority of refugees have fled to Lebanon,
Turkey and Jordan. There
are over 700,000 registered refugees in Lebanon
while there are more than 960,000 in Turkey
and Jordan.
U.N. officials say more than
44,000 refugees have poured into Iraq's
northern Kurdish region since August 15, when Kurdish officials opened access
to a bridge leading from Syria.
The UN's refugee agency and UNICEF say a further
two million children are displaced within the country (though figures for
numbers displaced internally are at best a guess though obviously they are very
high) and a million being forced to flee the country with three quarters of
them being under the age of 11.
"The youth of Syria are losing their homes, their family
members and their futures…Even after they have crossed a border to safety, they
are traumatised, depressed and in need of a reason for hope," " said
UN high commissioner for refugees Antonio Guterres.
The UN also says that due to a severe lack of funds, they are
struggling to meet the needs of the refugees. Roger Hearn, Save the Children's
regional director for the Middle East, added:
"It is appalling that the world has stood and watched as one million
children have been forced from their country, terrified, traumatised and in
some cases orphaned."
Following the chemical attacks of the 21st of August,
international pressure on Syria
and the UN has been escalating. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius warned
that France
must react "with force" if the use of chemical weapons was confirmed.
President Obama has said that he is considering “limited, tailored"
action which would not be "a
repetition of, you know, Iraq, which I know a lot of people are worried about -
but if we are saying in a clear and decisive but very limited way, we send a
shot across the bows saying, stop doing this".
According to a Reuters poll, only 9% of US voters
were in favour of a military intervention.
David
Cameron recalled Parliament on Thursday, 29th August, stating he
wanted to have "a clear government motion and vote on the UK response to
chemical weapons attacks." The government was defeated.
FOOTNOTE: The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights
claim that more than 4,420 were killed in Syria during the month of Ramadan,
some two thirds of them being fighters; there were no figures or data on any of
the NCF sources to back up these claims. We will be posting our own sources on
the NCF website over the coming days and will be happy to answer any questions.
No comments:
Post a Comment