The Human Tally

"Both sides are hiding information. It is very difficult to get correct info on the fighters because they don't want the information to hurt morale."
"Since there are more dying every day, it is very hard to go back and document those who died before."
"If there is no solution, we think the numbers will get worse in the coming months."
Abdul-Rahman, Syrian Observatory for Human Rights

Over six thousand deathsoverall in March alone have been documented, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, based in London. Reflecting their ability to verify the data they receive from their Syrian contacts. The group feels their numbers are incomplete since both the regime and the rebels have a tendency to under-report the numbers of their own dead, while prepared to inflate the numbers of the others.

Morale is vital; it makes sense to withhold information that will whittle down morale already impacted by the fact that the civil war, an unrelenting clash between tribal sectarianism, the ruling Shia minority and the oppressed Sunni majority, appears apart from creating greater fatalities and larger numbers of fleeing refugees, headed toward a stalemate. That, despite the fact that the regime has its ardent supporters.

Russia has been steadfast in its support of the Alawite regime and it has been reliable in providing weapons deliveries. Iran has performed the same function, along with providing the expert military advice and fighting prowess of members of its Quds division of the Republican Guard. Iran has also called upon Hezbollah to bring its fighting force to the service of Syria. And, of course, there is the Syrian pro-government Shabiha gunmen.

The rebels have been augmented by the presence of Islamists, groups hardened by their experience of war in Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Somalia and Iraq.  Al-Qaeda affiliates intent on establishing yet another base in yet another Muslim country to establish their goal of universal Sharia, have usurped the leading Islamist role of the Muslim Brotherhood in competition with the less-rabid, ordinary Sunni insurgents battling for equality rights.

The Observatory estimate has assembled its figures of casualties through its network of Syrian contacts. The conclusion was that similar numbers of combatants were killed on both sides; 1,486 rebels killed and 1,464 regime soldiers. Civilian deaths have topped those of the competing militias, with 2,080 for the month of March, representing within that total number 298 children and 291 women.
Anti-Syrian regime protesters hold banners and Syrian revolution flags, during a demonstration in Aleppo, Syria, late last month. March was the bloodiest month yet in Syria’s two-year-old conflict with more than 6,000 documented deaths.  Photograph by: Anonymous , AP

The Observatory has arrived at a total for the two years of conflict of 62,554 deaths, lower than the 70,000 estimated by the United Nations and stated earlier. But because of the under-reporting by both sides of their dead fighters and the fact that tens of thousands of missing persons reports remain unsolved, and the unknown fate of thousands of captives held both by the regime and rebels, the total numbers of dead could well be double the stated number.

President Bashar al-Assad's lovely wife Asma, has finally been heard from again. A new video has been aired on Syrian television, and posted to the Internet. In the 14-minute video, the glamorous woman with the Western education and impeccable taste in fashions, is shown greeting and hugging and kissing women described as mothers of Syrian soldiers who have met their death in battle.