The Unfathomable Toll of the Syrian Civil War

"The killing was targeted and systematic, a government policy designed to quell the rebellion. This slaughter came in three forms. There was the house-to-house variety, the hulking men in bandoliers burning people alive, raping women-of which there exist many recorded instances, like Monk Farm in 2013, spanning multiple provinces."

"So the second variety of killing came from bombers and helicopters; in some corners of Syria, bombing raids became so common-place that locals, upon overcoming the shock that their own government was dropping explosives on them, cobbled together an early-warning system for approaching aircraft by stationing spotters near air bases."

"These files, which include communiqués between branches of the security services, detail a government policy, drawn up in 2011, to crush the protests by targeting categories of people, such as demonstration organizers and those who 'tarnish the image of Syria in the foreign media.'"

The Syrian civil war resulted in over 100,000 deaths by mid-2013, with the vast majority being civilians killed by the Assad regime and its allies through coordinated, systematic violence. The killing occurred through three primary methods: ground-based massacres involving rape and burning; aerial bombardment by bombers and helicopters so frequent that locals developed early-warning systems; and torture and detention in facilities across the country. Regime defectors smuggled government documents revealing a 2011 policy designed to crush protests by targeting specific groups including demonstration organizers and those perceived as damaging Syria's international image. Over 100,000 people likely passed through detention centers, where early detainees were typically released after torture-induced confessions.

Read at The Nation