NGO Says More Than 150,000 Killed In Syrian Conflict

Children run across a street to avoid snipers in Deir al-Zor, Syria, earlier this year. A Britain-based nongovernmental organization says nearly 8,000 children have died in Syria's civil war.

A Britain-based nongovernmental organization has said that more than 150,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict started in March 2011.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on April 1 that the deaths also included almost 8,000 children.

The Syrian Observatory said, according to its figures, more than 58,000 members of government forces and nearly 38,000 opposition fighters have been killed.

The Syrian Observatory also reported 364 membersof Lebanon's Shi'ite Hizballah movement have been killed in the Syrian conflict.

The conflict in Syria began in March 2011 with peaceful antigovernment demonstrations.

After a regime crackdown that saw protesters killed, part of the opposition took up arms and the conflict spiraled into civil war.
Based on reporting by AFP and dpa