The Local Coordination Committees (LCC) is an activist network that has coordinated protests and opposition media activity since the start of the Syrian uprising. They maintain that they use stringent verification processes to accurately cover the news in Syria. The LCC also cooperates with the Center for Documentation of Violations in Syria (VDC). Foreign field journalists have, from time to time, verified the LCC’s methods, and its work has been cited by the United Nations.
The LCC’s casualty figures are typically a mix of civilians and rebel fighters. They typically do not include deaths from inside territory controlled by the Syrian regime, as the LCC is hunted by the Syrian government and so cannot operate within those areas. While their daily casualty reports are reliable, they should not be taken at face value — the death toll in Syria is much higher than the LCC has been able to confirm. However, since their methodology is consistent, their data is peer-reviewable, and they release reports every day, the LCC reports still provide an important data set which can be used as a baseline for the level of violence in opposition-controlled areas of Syria.
The work of the Local Coordination Committees has been studied extensively, including by The Interpreter’s managing editor, James Miller, who has published some of those findings in the Columbia Journalism Review.