ALMOST QUARTER OF A MILLION PEOPLE DEAD IN SYRIA?

Almost a quarter of a million people, including nearly 12,000 children, have been killed in Syria's conflict since it broke out in March 2011, a UK-based activist group has said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said it had documented the deaths of 240,381 people, up from its tally of 230,618 announced on June 9.

The latest death toll shows that 11,964 children were among 71,781 civilians killed in Syria.

At least 88,616 regime forces were killed - or one thirds all deaths documented by the SOHR - including 50,570 soldiers, with the rest made up by allied fighters.

The monitor, which relies on a wide network of sources on the ground, put the death toll for rebel fighters at 42,384 and said 34,375 foreign fighters had also been killed in Syria.

The identity of another 3,225 people killed in the conflict remains unknown, according to the observatory.

The fate of 30,000 people who have gone missing in Syria, including 20,000 said to be held in Syrian jails, was not documented in the toll.

It also did not take into account the fate of thousands of loyalist forces held by rebel factions or by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant group.

The Syrian conflict began with anti-government protests before  spiraling  into a multi - front war after a brutal  regime 
crackdown.

Source:  Al Jazeera