Over 55,000 killed in Syria in 2015: Monitoring group

As many as 55,219 people have been killed in Syria in 2015, the fifth year since the country found itself plagued by foreign-backed militancy, a monitoring group says.

The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported the death toll on Thursday, while putting the year’s civilian fatalities at 13,249.

The overall toll included more than 2,500 children, 17,686 Syrian forces, 7,000 people fighting on the side of the government, and 378 members of the Lebanese resistance movement, Hezbollah, which has been assisting Damascus in its fight against terrorists.

It also comprised close to 24,000 terrorists, including 16,000 militants from the Daesh Takfiri group, al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front and affiliated militant groups.

Adding the overall toll to those of the years that followed the onset of the crisis in 2011, the Britain-based monitoring group said the conflict has thus far claimed the lives of more than 260,000, including more than 76,000 civilians.

The conflict has also left over one million people injured, according to the United Nations, and displaced nearly half of the country’s population.

In 2014, the United States and its allies started a bombing campaign against what they have referred to as Daesh positions without a UN mandate or Syria's approval. The mission has fallen severely short of dislodging the Takfiri group.

Russia started pounding terrorist positions in the country at the Syrian government's request in late September this year. The ongoing mission has facilitated the Syrian military’s gains against terrorists.

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