A monitoring group has said that more than 76,000 people were killed in the Syrian conflict in 2014, making it the deadliest year since violence started in the country in 2011.
Reuters reports that the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights recorded 76,021 deaths over the course of the year. 33,278 civilians are reported to have been killed, as a civil war wages across the country.
The group, which claims to have a network of activists around the country, said the dead included some 22,600 troops and pro-government fighters.
73,447 were estimated to have died in the conflict in 2013.
The figures follow the UN's estimate in August that more than 191,000 people had been killed in the conflict, although some activists believe that the actual number of deaths is significantly higher.
The conflict broke out in early 2011, when there protests against the regime of the country's president Bashar al-Assad. It resulted in a civil war as government forces and pro-regime fighters battled militant forces.
Syria has also seen the rise of the Islamic State group, who have seized significant areas of land in the country, and have declared the city of Raqqa as their capital. A US-led international coalition has been conducting air strikes against IS in Syria since earlier this year.
President al-Assad yesterday made a rare visit to troops on the front-line, thanking them for "the victories that you achieved in the face of terrorism."
State TV footage showed Mr Assad spending New Year's Eve with his troops in Jobar, eastern Damascus, an area that has seen intense fighting in recent months between rebels and government forces.
He was pictured sharing a supper of baked beans and boiled potatoes as sporadic gunfire echoed in the background.
"On New Year's Eve families gather, but you decided to be here to protect your country," Mr Assad told them. "I like to be with you on this occasion."
He said rebels who launch attacks from underground tunnels were "rats", adding "we fight them above the ground".
The pictures showed Mr Assad shaking hands and kissing cheeks, and at one point climbing on to a tank.
He has rarely appeared in public since the uprising against his family's four-decade rule began in March 2011.
Originally posted at 17.25
