UN says deaths in Syria unrest exceed 5,000

Al Jazeera reports: More than 5,000 people are now believed to have been killed in the Syrian government’s crackdown on protests, the United Nations rights chief has told the UN Security Council.

The UN’s Navi Pillay said on Monday there were reports of increased attacks by opposition groups on President Bashar al-Assad’s security forces but highlighted “alarming” events in the besieged protest city of Homs, according to diplomats in the closed meeting.

More than 14,000 people are estimated to have been detained and at least 300 children are among the dead, Pillay told the 15-nation council, according to diplomats.

She estimated that at least 12,400 have fled into neighbouring countries since the anti-government protests erupted in March.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email
Facebooktwittermail

2 thoughts on “UN says deaths in Syria unrest exceed 5,000

  1. Colm O' Toole

    Ok 12 days ago on Dec 1st was this piece in The Guardian:

    “We are placing the figure at 4,000, but really the reliable information coming to us is that it is much more than that,” Pillay told a news conference in Geneva.

    Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/dec/01/syria-death-toll-4000-un

    There seems to be alot of war mongering going on at the UN on this one. Not even 2 weeks and seperate reports show the numbers jumping by the thousands despite what is reported in the daily death-tolls which is usually between 10-30 dead.

  2. Susan

    how come they know the death toll in Syria, but not in Libya or Iraq?

    how come they can count in some countries but not others?

Comments are closed.