LONDON, May 30 (UPI) -- Nearly 84,000 people have been killed in the Syrian uprising, with civilians representing the vast majority of the dead, a human rights group in London says.
A total of 83,598 deaths have been documented since rebel forces began fighting the regime of President Bashar Assad in March 2011, the Syrian Network for Human Rights reported Wednesday.
Of the dead, 74,993, or 91 percent, were identified as civilians, while 7,606, or 9 percent, were members of the opposition Syrian Free Army.
SNHR said it had compiled the list of dead by comparing names from at least two sources not related to each other.
SNHR attributed 2,241 of the civilian deaths to torture. In addition, the group found 7,686 of the civilian deaths were of women and 8,329 were of children.
The SNHR said in a statement the United Nations considers the group "one of the most important resources" for information about Syrian casualties because it "doesn't issue any statistic without supported files."
The report was issued a day before Assad revealed Syria has received a shipment of Russian-made S-300 missiles.
"Syria has received the first shipment of Russian anti-aircraft S-300 rockets. The rest of the shipment will arrive soon," the Lebanese newspaper al-Akhbar quoted Assad as saying Thursday in excerpts of an interview the president gave to Hezbollah's al-Manar station.
Assad warned Israel that Syria would retaliate against any Israeli attack on Syria. He said he wouldn't prevent Syrian groups from trying to liberate the Golan Heights, an area Israel captured in the 1967 Six Days War.
During the interview, he also stressed the strong bond between his army and Hezbollah fighters, with the Lebanese daily quoted him as saying "Syria and Hezbollah are part of the same axis."
The announcement of the advanced missile defense system's delivery came days after Russia said it would go ahead with the sale despite objections from Israel, the United States and other countries. Russia said the move would help stabilize the region.
