A total of 19,666 people were killed this year as a result of conflict which erupted in 2011 (File)Beirut: Syria's nearly eight-year-old conflict saw its lowest annual death toll in 2018 as regime reasserted its authority over swathes of territory, a war monitor said on Monday.A total of 19,666 people were killed this year as a result of conflict, which erupted in 2011, Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group reported."2018 was lowest annual toll since start of conflict," Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.The Britain-based monitor relies on a vast network of sources across Syria to document war that broke out after brutal repression of nationwide anti-regime protests in 2011.The death toll for 2017 stood at more than 33,000 and highest annual figure was reached in 2014 -- year Islamic State jihadist group proclaimed a "caliphate" over large parts of Syria and neighbouring Iraq -- when 76,000 people were killed.Among those killed in 2018 were 6,349 civilians, 1,437 of them children, Abdel Rahman said. (Except for headline, this story has not been edited by TheIndianSubcontinent staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)