The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights issued a report documenting the rising death toll among pro-regime forces, claiming 729 pro-regime militants had been killed between President Bashar al-Assad's public speech on July 26, until August 8.
The report explained that the deceased militants were from the Syrian army, the National Defense Forces, Baath Brigades, Lebanese Hezbollah and other militias, as well as fighters from the Shiite community.
About half of those killed, 347, were soldiers in the regime's army, while 316 pro-regime militants have been killed, 21 fighters from the Lebanese Hezbollah, in addition to 45 fighters from Arab and Asian countries, mostly from the Shiite community.
The reports also details the total number of pro-regime militants killed since the presidential elections in mid-July last year – 22,467 militants, including 11,595 soldiers and officers, while the rest were fighters from pro-regime militias.
According to the Observatory, reliable sources said that about 70 percent of regime losses were of Syrian nationality from the villages, towns and cities of the Syrian coast, and from the western countryside of Hama and parts of Homs and its countryside.
Assad acknowledged in his recent speech the possibility of giving up some areas in favor of other "more important" ones, saying: "Syria is for those who defend it, whatever their nationalities are."
Translated and edited by The Syrian Observer
