Reports from U.K-based activist group, Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), claim that over 76,000 people have been killed in violence in Syria during the year 2014, which makes it the worst year in the four-year-old civil war to date.

The announcement was made following a visit of President Assad on the front lines of the war - it was a rare occasion and he reportedly sat down with government troops for a New Year's Eve dinner of baked beans, boiled potatoes and tomatoes. The location was an eastern Damascus neighborhood that has seen fierce fighting, this has been reported by Syrian state TV.

SOHR has evidently studied the number of deaths and have categorized them. Tn their opinion, the 2014 death toll of 76,021 is slightly up from 2013's toll of 73,000 and have added that over 200,000 have been killed since the conflict began in 2011.

The breakup of the figures is: 17,790 death of civilians, and another 17,000 were fighters from militant groups, including those of Islamic State and al-Nusra Front. Another 15,000 fighters who died in the violence belonged to moderate rebel groups and other Islamist factions. As for soldiers of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad that are loyal to him, the figure is about 22,627 causalities.

In view of the turbulent situation in and around Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has blasted the "silence of the international community" as the fighting has dragged on. However, Assad during his rare public appearance, has described the rebels as "rats".