U.N. says Syria death toll tops 190,000, rights envoy raps world powers

A general view shows damaged buildings in Mleiha, which lies on the edge of the eastern Ghouta region near Damascus airport August 15, 2014. REUTERS/Omar Sanadiki

GENEVA (Reuters) - More than 191,000 people were killed in the first three years of Syria's civil war, a U.N. report said on Friday, and the world body's human rights envoy rebuked leading powers for failing to halt what she branded a "wholly avoidable human catastrophe".

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said war crimes were still being committed with total impunity on all sides in the conflict, which began with initially peaceful protests against President Bashar al-Assad's rule in March 2011.