Syria

Violence in Syria has continued amid ongoing international efforts to implement a ceasefire in talks brokered by Russia, Turkey, and Iran and parallel talks sponsored by the United Nations. Government forces and their allies carried out deliberate and indiscriminate attacks on civilians. Incommunicado detention and torture remain rampant. Armed groups opposing the government have attacked civilians, used child soldiers, kidnapped, and tortured. The extremist group Islamic State (also known as ISIS), and Al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria, Jabhat Fath Al-Sham, formerly known as Jabhat al-Nusra, were responsible for targeting civilians, kidnappings, and executions. According to local Syrian groups, as of February 2016, the conflict’s death toll topped 470,000 people. According to the UN, about 6.3 million people are internally displaced, with 5 million refugees in neighboring countries.