- City Fajr Shuruq Duhr Asr Magrib Isha
- Dubai 04:27 05:45 12:20 15:47 18:49 20:07
Photo taken from the Turkish border town of Ceylanpinar shows Syrian oppsosition fighters on the strategic Syrian border town of Ras al-Ain, on November 14, 2012. Rebel fighters killed at least 18 soldiers as they overran a military post near Syria's northeastern border with Turkey today, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The clashes -- which also left an unknown number of soldiers wounded -- took place near Ras al-Ain, a border town that the opposition fighters seized on Friday, said the Britain-based watchdog (AFP)
Violence in Syria since an uprising against President Bashar al-Assad's regime erupted 20 months ago has claimed the lives of more than 39,000 people, mostly civilians, a watchdog said on Thursday.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights listed 27,410 civilians, 9,800 soldiers and 1,359 military deserters as among those killed since the uprising began on March 15, 2011.
The Britain-based watchdog regards citizens who have taken up arms against Assad as civilians.
Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said another 543 persons who could not be identified needed to be added to the figure, for a total of 39,112.
Even these figures are short of the real total, because they do not include people who have disappeared, many of whom are presumed dead, and deaths among the pro-regime "shabiha" militias.
And Abdel Rahman added that it is difficult to get accurate figures on both army and rebel deaths, "because both sides tend to minimise their losses."
The Observatory relies on a countrywide network of activists and medics in civilian and military hospitals for its numbers.
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