UN: Syria death toll tops 60,000
Latest report by UN Human Rights Council on civil war in Syria says country plunging deeper into bloodshed, chaos; adds 84,000 people fled region in December alone 

January 2, 2013
Ynet News 
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4327877,00.html

At least 60,000 people have died in http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4132932,00.html \t _blank Syria's conflict, UN Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay said on Wednesday, citing an exhaustive UN-commissioned study.
 
Over five months of analysis, researchers cross-referenced seven sources to compile a list of 59,648 individuals reported killed between March 15, 2011, and November 30, 2012. 
  
Given there has been no let-up in the conflict since the end of November, we can assume that more than 60,000 people have been killed by the beginning of 2013, Pillay said. The number of casualties is much higher than we expected, and is truly shocking. 
 
The UN refugee agency said about 84,000 people fled Syria in December alone, bringing the total number of refugees to about a half-million. Many more are displaced inside Syria. 
 
Among the latest deaths were a number of civilians who died when Syrian warplanes bombed a petrol station in a suburb on the eastern edge of http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4320674,00.html \t _blank Damascus on Wednesday. 
 

Syria's civil war is the longest and deadliest conflict to emerge from uprisings that began sweeping the Arab world in 2011 and has developed a significant sectarian element. 
 
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4325840,00.html \t _blank UN-led diplomatic peace efforts have stumbled. Western and many Sunni Arab states demand Syrian President http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3284205,00.html%20 \t _blank Bashar Assad's immediate removal, an idea resisted by Russia, China and Syria's Shia ally Iran.