After an MSF relief mission in Syria in 2013, I was invited by the FSA (Free Syrian Army), to document the plight of the local population under the onslaught of the Syrian army commanded by Bashar al-Assad.
The United Nations Human Rights Office estimated that 306,887 civilians were killed between March 2011 and March 2021 due to the conflict. At least 27,126 of those estimated to have been killed were children. This does not include the many, many more civilians who died due to the loss of access to healthcare, to food, to clean water and other essential human rights. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights estimated that the actual toll from the war was more than 613,400, with an additional 55,000 civilians believed to have died of torture in government-run prisons.
In addition to the bloodshed, more than half of Syria's pre-war population of 22 million have had to flee their homes. Some 6.8 million are internally displaced, with more than two million living in tented camps with limited access to basic services. Another 6 million are refugees or asylum-seekers abroad. At the start of 2023, the UN said 15.3 million people inside Syria needed some form of humanitarian assistance and 12 million did not know where their next meal was coming from.
Access to medical care is severely restricted for the sick and injured because only half of the country's hospitals are fully functional. Despite their protected status, 601 attacks on at least 400 separate medical facilities had been documented as of February 2022, resulting in the deaths of 942 medical personnel. Most of the attacks were blamed on government and Russian forces.
A UN commission of inquiry has concluded that the warring parties have cumulatively committed nearly every war crime applicable in a non-international armed conflict. Syrians have suffered vast aerial bombardments of densely populated areas; they have endured chemical weapons attacks and modern-day sieges in which perpetrators deliberately starved the population through shameful restrictions of humanitarian aid.
The government has regained control of Syria's biggest cities, but large parts of the country are still held by rebels, jihadists and the Kurdish-led SDF. There have been no shifts in the front lines for years. The last remaining opposition stronghold is in the north-western province of Idlib and adjoining parts of northern Hama and western Aleppo provinces.
With President Assad unwilling to negotiate with political opposition groups that insist he must step down as part of any settlement, It does not look like the conflict will end anytime soon.
© Daniel Botelho
