U.N. Chief: Death Toll In Syria Passes 100,000
The Secretary General of the United Nations says that more than 100,000 people have died in Syria’s civil war:
UNITED NATIONS — Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday raised the death toll in Syria’s civil war to more than 100,000, up from nearly 93,000 just over a month ago.
Ban called on the Syrian government and opposition to halt the violence in the 2 ½ year civil war, saying it is “imperative to have a peace conference in Geneva as soon as possible.”
The secretary-general spoke before talks with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who stood nearby.
“There is no military solution to Syria,” Kerry then told reporters. “There is only a political solution, and that will require leadership in order to bring people to the table.”
The United States has been trying to get the various sides in Syria together for talks in Geneva for months now, to no avail. Given the fact that the rebels have not backed down from their position that Assad must go and that Assad takes the position that the war must end before talks can begin, it’s hard to see how any such talks are going to at all productive. I suppose, though, it’s better than discussing yet another barely thought out proposal for U.S.military intervention.
Considering how hard it must be to count the death tolls there, I wouldn’t be surprised if the real count were significantly higher.