Tombstones a 'luxury' in war-torn Syria

Joseph Eid / AFP - Getty Images

A tombstone sculptor works at his workshop in Damascus, Syria on August 28, 2012. In the Sahnaya district of Old Damascus, even tombstones are not easily available for a conflict which the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says has killed more than 25,000 people over the past 17 months.

Joseph Eid / AFP - Getty Images

In the Sahnaya district of Old Damascus, even tombstones are hard to come by, Agence France Presse reports.

"People are just looking for a hole in a cemetery," says Tareq Samini, 45, carving with his chisel the name of a shaheed (martyr), a young soldier killed in the central city of Homs.

"A tombstone is a luxury that we offer in peacetime, not wartime," says colleague Jihad Jano.

See more images of the Syrian conflict on PhotoBlog.

Goran Tomasevic / Reuters

After months of protests and violent crackdowns, a look back at the violence that has overtaken the country.

 

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Really????? You took up space for this stupid article???? Typical MSN.

    Reply#1 - Thu Aug 30, 2012 10:23 AM EDT

    Tombstones are a luxury here in the US. Are you kidding me? The economy is so bad that more and more bodies are being left at morgues. More and more people that can at least afford something are going to cremation...not because of choice but because that's all they can afford.

    • 1 vote
    Reply#2 - Thu Aug 30, 2012 10:59 AM EDT
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