The Monthly Statistical Report on Dignity Revolution's Martyrs

December 2014

Violations Documentation Center in Syria

Introduction and Citation:

This report includes the number of victims who fell during December 2014. In Syria, claiming the lives of thousands, mainly civilian women and children, goes on using all kinds of weapons and targeting the various civilian neighborhoods. Accordingly, mass displacement movements took place, especially from the neighborhoods that are indiscriminately targeted by barrel bombs. However, in 23 September 2014, when the USA and its allies represented by the so-called National Coalition started a military operation that targeted headquarters of ISIS and other organizations including al-Nusra Front in Syria, the Syrian crisis entered a new phase.

The following points should be taken into consideration before reading the report:

1. Fatalities of the regime, the Army of National Defense (Shabiha), Lebanese Hizbullah, Iraqi and Iranian Militias are not included in the reported death toll. The report only includes the victims at the hands of the regime in addition to a special list of the victims who fell by the fires of either the Islamic State in Iraq and Sham (ISIS) or the coalition forces' against ISIS if there is any. It doesn't include numbers of victims at the hands of other fighting brigades.
2. These figures are not final in any way, and they are subject to continuous and periodic scrutiny by center's activists, the data base administrators and the field documentation team.
3. Figures may differ between reports, even within the same district, and this can be referred to the territorial audit that would reveal places of errors and faults, as well as the continuous follow up to identify undistinguished bodies whenever they are identified.

VDC team pays tribute to all the collaborative activists who extended a helping hand to our center as well as to the families of the victims. We also thank the Field Observation Team whose members face daily dangers executing their duties in Syria in order to document the human rights violations committed there, complete the data, and claim the rights of the distressed families from the concerned bodies and organizations.                                                          

First: Victims of the Revolution:

Since the beginning of the Syrian Revolution till the end of December 2014, the Violations Documentation Center in Syria managed to document the killing of (110165) people at the hands of the regime forces and its militias, (1380) of whom fell in December 2014, while (3124) fell in December 2013, (4605) in December 2012 and (888) fell in December 2011.

Second: Victims of December 2014

During this month, the Violations Documentation Center in Syria managed to document the death of (1380) victims, (1245) of whom were documented by names, while (135) i.e. (10 %) were unidentified bodies because they had turned into carnages. Still, (32) of them were documented by photo; (17) were documented by video and (86) were documented only by witnessing.

Third: the Distribution of Victims according to the Days of the Month:

The average number of victims in December 2014 was (44) victim/day, that is (3) victims less than November 2014 when the average number was (47) victim/day.

16^th December 2014 witnessed the fall of the largest number of victims, when (131) of them fell i.e. (9.5 %) of the death toll. Following was 25^th December 2014, which witnessed the fall of (94) victims then 15^nd December 2014, which witnessed the fall of (62) victims.

Fourth: the Distribution of Victims according to Governorates:

Aleppo witnessed the fall of the largest number of victims that mounted up to (296 victims) i.e. (21 %), followed by Damascus Suburbs (264 victims) i.e. (19 %), then Daraa (220 victims) followed by Idlib (157 victims).

Fifth: the Distribution of Victims according to Death Causes:

Direct shooting and clashes were the main reasons that claimed the lives of (499) of December's victims i.e. (36 %) of the total, (43) of whom died by regime snipers' shots. (456) of December's victims i.e. (33 %) of the total died by warplane shelling, (119) of whom died by barrel bombs shelling. (147) victims i.e. (11 %) of the death toll were killed by random artillery and mortar shelling. VDC has also documented (124) victims i.e. (9 %) who were either tortured and starved to death or executed in the regime's detention centers. Other (29) victims died out of malnutrition, starvation and lack of medical assistance in regime-besieged areas and due to cold, VDC also was able to document 2 fighters from ( Fajer al-Ommeih brigade ) were killed in Harasta, Damascus Countryside, due to using poisonous chlorine gas by regime forces during clashes.

 

Sixth: the Distribution of victims according to Gender:

The number of male adult victims is (1106), i.e. (80 %) of the death toll, the number of male children is (133), i.e. (10 %), the number of adult females is (89), i.e. (6 %) and the number of female children is (53) i.e. (4 %).

Seventh: the Distribution of Victims according to the Category (Civilian/ Non-civilian)

(875) civilian victims were reported i.e. (63 %) of the total, while (506) fighters- including four children under 18- fell i.e. (37%).

Eighth: the Distribution of Victims according to Category and Governorate:

Ninth: By the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)

In December 2014, VDC has documented more than (100) victims who were killed by ISIS, more than 70 of them were civilians and more than (25) were members of the armed groups. Among the victims were 5 children and four women.

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لأية ملاحظات أو أسئلة يمكن التواصل معنا عبر بريدنا الالكتروني
editor@vdc-sy.info

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