Syria's Assad Regime Killed 18,457 Women, Sexually Exploited 7,500 Others Since 2011: Report

Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad's regime killed as many as 18,457 women and sexually exploited thousands of females since March 2011, according to a report released on Sunday.

The regime perpetrated sexual violence on at least 7,500 women, 850 who were in detention and 400 who were below the age of 18 years, according to the report.

The report by the Syrian Network of Human Rights (SNHR) published on the occasion of International Women's Day says that thousands of woman were killed in the "indiscriminate rocket bombings, artillery fire, cluster bombs, poison gas, barrel bombs" and knives. Many of the massacres perpetrated by the Assad regime's army had a nature of a 'sectarian cleansing'", the report says, as noted by Middle East Monitor.

The report titled 'A Bleeding Jasmine' also says that 6,580 women were arbitrarily arrested by the regime since the uprising began four years ago. Among those arrested included at least 225 teenagers under the age of 18.

SNHR further claims that at least 2,500 women are currently being held by the Syrian regime. Of these, over 450 cases are categorised as "enforced-disappearance", or women which the regime denies are being held.  

Indiscriminate bombings by the Assad regime have been blamed for the death of about 31 female Kurdish PYD forces members. In 2014, Kurdish forces arrested about 43 women, and 24 children under 18 for conscription. 

"The Syrian woman has made sacrifices that no other woman in the contemporary age has made. Nonetheless, her suffering and sacrifices have not been highlighted enough," Fadel Abdulghani, the head of SNHR said in a release.