UN reports 929 verified victims in Syria, actual toll likely greater

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
Today 15:42

The UN says widespread human rights violations continue across Syria, with verified casualties in the coastal region and Sweida likely representing only a fraction of the true toll.

Listen

Workers clean the National Hospital following last week's sectarian clashes in the Druze-majority town of Sweida, Syria, on Friday, July 25, 2025 (AP)

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) warned on Friday that grave human rights violations remain widespread in Syria, with violence continuing in several regions of the country.

The OHCHR confirmed that 929 victims have been verified in Syria’s coastal region and in Sweida, in the country’s south, but stressed that the real toll is likely far higher.

“We believe the real figures are significantly higher,” the agency said in a statement.

Earlier this week, the UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria reported escalating violations and abuses in Sweida province, which saw intense clashes last July between Druze armed groups and Bedouin tribal forces backed by the transitional government in Damascus.

UN urges all parties to halt attacks on civilians

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, at least 2,026 people were killed in the confrontations, a figure that includes deaths from summary executions, Israeli airstrikes, and other acts of armed conflict.

In a separate report issued in August, the Commission of Inquiry found that violence along Syria’s coast predominantly targeted Alawite communities, culminating in a series of massacres in early March that left around 1,400 people dead, most of them civilians.

The UN urged all parties to halt attacks on civilians and emphasized that accountability remains essential to any sustainable resolution of the crisis.