55 Civilian Deaths Documented in December 2022, including Nine Children, Two Women, and Three Victims who Died due to Torture

Methodology and Background.

This report documents the death toll of victims whose deaths were documented by Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) as taking place at the hands of the parties to the conflict and the controlling forces in Syria in 2022, including the month of December. The report sheds light particularly on victims who died due to torture, and victims among medical personnel. In addition, the report focuses on documenting massacres; it should be noted that we use the term, ‘massacre’ to refer to an incident in which no fewer than five peaceful individuals were killed. The report also includes a summary of the most notable incidents documented in December. Full details of every incident cited in the report are maintained on the SNHR database.

Documenting deaths in Syria has been one of the most important roles performed by SNHR since March 2011. This is all the more crucial since murder is the most prevalent of all the violations perpetrated, and the one which most profoundly affects the Syrian people, with countless families suffering incalculable and irreparable trauma through the loss of parents, spouses, children, siblings, friends, etc.

These violations have become so widespread primarily due to the systematic killing of civilians by Syrian regime forces and their affiliated militias. Between March 2011, and the beginning of 2012, Syrian regime forces were responsible for the overwhelming majority of deaths. The Syrian regime began by using tanks and artillery, then proceeded to also use warplanes and helicopter gunships which were used in the deployment of barrel bombs, in addition to ballistic missiles and chemical weapons.

The emergence of several other parties during the Syrian conflict has further increased both the importance and complexity of documenting the victims killed in Syria.

The killing of civilians in Syria has continued for the eleventh consecutive year, as it has done continuously since the initial outbreak of the popular uprising for democracy in Syria in March 2011, resulting in casualty numbers that are among the largest worldwide; this underlines the fact that Syria is still the most dangerous nation in the world for civilians, and remains an exceptionally insecure and perilous environment wholly unsuitable for the return of refugees.

This report catalogues the death toll of victims at the hands of the active parties to the Syrian conflict. It should be noted that accurately ascribing responsibility sometimes requires more time and investigation than usual, especially in the case of joint attacks. We also face additional challenges in assigning responsibility for attacks in some incidents of land bombardment, especially those in which the bombardment originates from an area adjacent to the targeted location, which is controlled by a different party. In such cases, SNHR tries to thoroughly investigate the incident in order to conclusively identify the party responsible for the bombardment.

Despite this, however, there are cases in which we are unable to definitively assign responsibility for a particular killing to one of two possible parties because of the area’s proximity to the lines of engagement, the use of similar weapons, or other reasons. In such cases, the incident is classified within the category ‘other parties’ until such time as we have gathered sufficient evidence to conclusively assign responsibility for the violation to one of the two parties.

Source: Syrian Network for Human Rights