Syria
In 1982 the government of Hafez al-Assad crushed Hama, killing between 10,000 and 40,000 people. After the 2011 uprising the Assad regime answered protests with mass arrest, torture, sieges and bombing. SNHR has documented 177,057 people forcibly disappeared from 2011 to August 2025, about 90% of them by the regime, and Amnesty estimated up to 13,000 were hanged in Sednaya prison alone. Massacres such as Houla, Darayya and al-Bayda, chemical attacks on Ghouta, Khan Shaykhun and Douma, and the starvation of besieged towns killed thousands more. ISIS and the US-led coalition also killed civilians, and more than 13 million Syrians were displaced.
Key numbers
Who is responsible
The Assad regime (Hafez al-Assad, then Bashar al-Assad until December 2024): army, air force, military intelligence and other security branches, Military Field Courts, National Defence Forces and Shabiha militias, with Hezbollah and Russian forces; also ISIS, the US-led coalition, and other armed parties for a smaller share of cases.
Timeline
- 1982 Hama besieged for 27 days; 10,000–40,000 killed
- 2011 Uprising; mass arrests and disappearances begin
- 2012 Houla (108 killed) and Darayya (320–700+) massacres
- 2013 Ghouta sarin attack (1,144 killed); al-Bayda; Tadamon; Yarmouk starved
- 2014 ISIS kills 700+ of the al-Shaitat tribe
- 2016 Madaya starvation; eastern Aleppo falls and is emptied
- 2017 Khan Shaykhun sarin attack; Amnesty's Sednaya report; Raqqa bombed
- 2018 Douma chlorine attack kills 43
- 2024 Assad regime falls in December; prisons opened
- 2025 SNHR: 177,057 still forcibly disappeared
Records (19)
Hama massacre
Government troops besieged and shelled Hama for 27 days, followed by house-to-house searches and mass arrests. Estimates of the dead run from 10,000 to 40,000; Amnesty said the toll may have reached 25,000. About 60 men were killed at the Mas'oud mosque.
10,000–40,000 killed
Source: Amnesty International · Arab News
Forcibly disappeared since 2011
SNHR documented at least 177,057 people forcibly disappeared from March 2011 to August 2025, including 4,536 children and 8,984 women. 160,123 (about 90%) were held by the former Assad regime.
177,057 detained
Source: SNHR · The New Arab
Displacement of Syrians
UNHCR says more than 13 million Syrians were displaced over 14 years; at the end of 2024 over 7 million were displaced inside Syria and 6.1 million were refugees abroad.
13,000,000 displaced
Caesar photos of detainees killed in custody
A defector smuggled 53,275 photographs out of Syria; Human Rights Watch found they show at least 6,786 people who died in government custody.
6,786 killed
Source: Al Jazeera (Human Rights Watch)
Sednaya military prison
Amnesty estimated that as many as 13,000 people were hanged at Sednaya in 2011–2015 after one- or two-minute 'trials', in weekly groups of up to 50, and buried in mass graves.
≤13,000 killed
Houla massacre
At least 108 people, 49 of them children, were killed in Taldou in the Houla area. A UN commission found Syrian troops and Shabiha militia likely responsible.
108 killed
Source: UN News · Al Jazeera
Darayya massacre
After five days of shelling, government forces carried out door-to-door executions in Darayya. Early counts were about 320 dead; later investigations put it at 700 or more.
320–700 killed
Source: Syrian British Consortium / CJA report · Democracy Now
Tadamon massacre
Leaked video shows blindfolded, handcuffed detainees shot one by one into a pit in Damascus's Tadamon district: 41 in the video, and researchers count 288 killed in the area.
41–288 killed
Source: The Conversation · Arab News
Minaret of Aleppo's Umayyad Mosque destroyed
The 11th-century minaret of the Great (Umayyad) Mosque of Aleppo collapsed during fighting. Activists said a government tank shell hit it; state media blamed rebels.
1 mosques & sacred places destroyed
Source: Al Jazeera
Al-Bayda and Baniyas executions
Human Rights Watch documented at least 248 people executed in two days, 167 in al-Bayda and 81 in Baniyas, including 23 women and 14 children, mostly after fighting had ended.
248 killed
Source: Human Rights Watch
Siege and starvation of Yarmouk camp
Government forces tightened the siege of the Palestinian camp in Damascus in July 2013. Amnesty recorded 194 deaths by February 2014, 128 from starvation, and called it a war crime of starvation.
194 killed
Source: Amnesty International
Khalid ibn al-Walid shrine shelled
Army shelling hit the mausoleum of Khalid ibn al-Walid in Homs, damaging the dome and the tomb; government troops took the mosque days later.
Ghouta sarin attack
Rockets with sarin hit Eastern and Western Ghouta at dawn. SNHR documented at least 1,144 killed and about 5,935 injured; the UN team confirmed 'clear and convincing evidence' of sarin.
1,144 killed
Source: SNHR · The New Arab
Al-Shaitat tribe massacre
ISIS killed more than 700 members of the al-Shaitat tribe in two weeks in villages of Deir ez-Zor, most of them civilians; later counts range up to about 1,000.
700–1,000 killed
Source: Ahram Online
Siege and starvation of Madaya
Government forces and Hezbollah besieged Madaya from July 2015. MSF reported 46 deaths from starvation from December to January 2016.
23–46 killed
Source: Al Jazeera
Fall and evacuation of eastern Aleppo
After a long siege and bombardment, about 35,000 people were moved out of eastern Aleppo to Idlib under a Russia–Turkey deal; the UN had reports of pro-government forces killing at least 82 civilians just before.
25,000–35,000 displaced
Khan Shaykhun sarin attack
Sarin dropped from the air killed more than 80–90 people. The OPCW–UN Joint Investigative Mechanism was 'confident' the Syrian government was responsible.
80–90 killed
Source: Military Times
Coalition bombardment of Raqqa
In the offensive to drive ISIS from Raqqa, US, UK and French strikes and US artillery killed hundreds of civilians and levelled much of the city (Amnesty); Airwars counted about 1,400 deaths.
1,400–1,800 killed
Source: Amnesty International · The Intercept
Douma chlorine attack
A helicopter dropped two chlorine cylinders on Douma; one burst in a residential building and killed 43 people. The OPCW's investigation team found the Syrian Arab Air Force responsible.
43 killed
Source: UPI · The New Arab