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Muzaffar Salman / Reuters
A girl looks up to the sky after hearing the sound of shelling as she sits on a toy pony in the playground of Al-Tawheed school in Aleppo, Syria on Jan. 1.
Muzaffar Salman / Reuters
Children play in the playground of Al-Tawheed school in Aleppo on Jan. 1.
Muzaffar Salman / Reuters
Children play with a toy car in the playground of Al-Tawheed school in Aleppo on Jan. 1.
Muzaffar Salman / Reuters
Children sit on school benches at Al-Tawheed school in Aleppo on Jan. 1.
Muzaffar Salman / Reuters
Children attend a class at Al-Tawheed school in Aleppo on Jan. 1.
By Oliver Holmes, Reuters
Government war planes bombed opposition-held areas of Syria and President Bashar al-Assad's forces and rebels fought on the outskirts of the capital Damascus on New Year's Day on Tuesday.
A year ago, many diplomats and analysts predicted Assad would leave power in 2012. But despite international pressure and rebel gains, he has proved resilient.
The air force pounded Damascus's eastern suburbs on Tuesday and rebel-held areas of Aleppo, the second city and commercial capital, as well as several rural towns and villages, opposition activists said.
Related links:
- See more images of the conflict in Syria in PhotoBlog
- Syrian government forces go on attack on first day of year
- Reuters cameraman wounded by Syrian sniper
Muhammed Muheisen / AP
A look back at the violence that has overtaken the country
Leave a Comment:
Let us be clear here: We infidels have no roles in Syria or Iran.
Let Sunnis and Shiites battle out whose Allah is greater.
Sunnis are so intolerant that they can't tolerate a far better Muslim ruler like Assad just because he belongs to a different Muslim sect.
At the same time, Sunnis don't want to permit a Shiite ruler in Bahrain.
"Children sit on school benches at Al-Tawheed school in Aleppo on Jan. 1."
With just three children in class, you people must be joking.
In Syria, if Assad is overthrown by Sunni Islamic religious Nazis like al-Qaida, MB, the conditions of Christians will be unbearable just like Iraq.
Pakis and Sunni rulers of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, UAE and other Sunni Arab League nations are responsible for 80 percent of world problems including economic ones.
Examine the devastations with Iraqi wars and now sanctions on Iranian oil and the resultant oil price manipulations.
"A year ago, many diplomats and analysts predicted Assad would leave power in 2012. But despite international pressure and rebel gains, he has proved resilient."
Shiites and Assad should eliminate the most intolerant Sunni Syrian rebels and Saudi hater and killer front gangsters of al Qaida, MB, Salaffi and others as many as possible.
Shiites should start battles in Mecca and Medina and other Sunni ruled nations for liberation from mad extremist hating and killing Sunnis and their rulers.
-Jonathan
Notwithstanding their religions or beliefs, These people starting protesting for their basic freedoms from dictatorship, before their efforts got hijacked by fundamentalist internal and external groups. This cannot be denied. over throwing a dictator is messy business; of course it's going to get worst before it gets better. Assad used different religions and factions to his advantage in keeping Syria under control; of course there will be religious tensions for a while.
Remember, the french needed FIVE revolutions in order to get their democracy and freedoms. So Be patient, not biased.
over 60,000 have been killed in syria and yet no reporting from msdnc , who deflect any and all bad press about clinton and obama.
yes over 60,000 up from the 42,000 last week and reports are coming in it might be even close to 100,000 , maybe the UN can go back tell Assad he will have more sanctions !
I'm sure Diane Fienstien could introduce a bill and it would stop immediately.
stonepipe, you're not helping.
Either offer a solution to the problem or stfu. WTF does Ms Fienstien have to do with this?
You bring a lot of problems to the table yet have no solutions. You're not welcome here as you'd not be welcome in a house of reasonable people.
For a moment put aside the political references and tell us what it is that you'd like to happen. Be peaceful and direct your energy to solving the problem as you see it. Please explain how stonepipe would make this world a better place.
Stop yer bitching and make a suggestion as to how to fix the problem that's up your butt tonight.
Thank you.
While your point is totally valid, all recent Western government positions have emphasized the politically correct orthodoxy that Islamic countries’ universal malaise is totally due to Western infidels’ misunderstanding and insufficient adulation of Islam, despite the earnestly overt slobbering of president Obama, et al.
All those crude grubby wooden desks in ramshackle schools within ramshackle cities throughout the muslim world do not even remotely empower their students with fundamental knowledge or basic skills. That is particularly manifest in oil-rich muslim countries where the oil rig workers are usually from other third world countries. Indeed, even the totally uneducated foreigners still have a better cognitive grasp of mechanics and real life physics than do the mullah-taught jihadi retards. The latter generally comprise the bulk of ultimately unemployable middle eastern “students” who grow up to be the familiar stubble-faced, bargain-basement muslim slobware-clad violent demonstrators seen in all the recent news videos.
In short, whether it is shia this or sunni that, rational countries should be putting their efforts into totally disengaging from muslim affairs in general. There is NO other moral option.
Dear God- Please bless the children.
You're right; why does WAR have to involve Children? lots of barren desert out there, if War is a contest,then why can't they fight away from Children. That's Not God/ or Allah Like, unite & throw out terrible Leadership.They are the culprits of Carnage.......
God did not plan this world that innocent children would be victims of adult's inquities.
I wish I could collect them all and keep them safe. My heart grieves.
If these people would turn their lives over to Christ and the Christian beliefs, the fighting would stop and there would be peace in the Middle East. But as long as they give their lives to Allah or whoever it is, the bloodshed will not stop. Because that is exactly what Satan wants. Kill,kill,kill.
what? really? Christians don't have their little wars? We're in two wars right now, love.
Amen to that meys...but you are preaching to a western culture bigot - waste of effort.
john, your imaginary friend hasn't done anything at all to promote peace or harmony in the past 2,000 years since he sent his illegitimate Sion down here.
No religious sect, Baptists, Catholics, Mormons, etc have done anything toward making peace on earth. Religion has always been an excuse for making war, not peace.
When's the last time a nation invaded another country to proclaim PEACE??
The only purpose of a religion is to wage war upon their neighbor in the name of their god(s). It's all a sham.
Before going to church on Sunday mornings there was Oral Roberts on the tv 'healing' people of all kinds of miladies, polio, harelip, you name it. He'd grab some poor sole by the head and plead to GAWD almighty to HEAL him, take away the demons, etc, etc,. I thought everyone knew it was a scam. It was so obvious. But Dr Reverend Oral Roberts went on to build a huge university in outback Oklahoma. Billy Graham was of the same era but more soft spoken until it came time to pass the collection plate and then all hell broke loose until the plates were filled to his satisfaction.
There, that's how I was raised in a good Southern Baptist manner before LBJ sent me off to kill yellow people in the name of Gawd and the USA, USA, USA!
There is no God or gods. They're imaginary and created by people who were afraid of dying, of having lived a life without meaning. They created gods. Not the other way around.
There is no heaven, either. We have but one life. This life is what we are given by some chance of biology. We should make the most of it for our children and our brothers and sisters. We're all brothers and sisters when you get down to it. Red, yellow, brown, black or white. We're all the same.
If you believe in god how can you be bias against yellow, brown, black, red or white people? Would your god make so many mistakes? Would your loving god create that many people for you to hate?
gordona, please see my previous post above...or did you just feel the need to rant? LOL
John , What so bad , we are helping these Alqaida thugs in Syria to kill the Christians and innocents along with NATO and Turkey and off course with money coming from none other than Alqaida masters ( THE SAUDIS AND QATARIS ) Go figure ??????
John , I know enough Muslims to know that your wrong and its you who that has allowed Satan to rule your mind , when did God give you the right judge anothers salvation . Shame you missed the Spanish Inquisition
Dear Mr. Self Righteous,
Muslims kill more people every YEAR than were killed in the 350 YEARS of the Spanish Inquisition. Equivocate that.
Hmmmm Pray Hard...what kind of stats do you have for the Crusades? Just askin'.
it's *you're* wrong. It's a contraction of you and are. You ' re wrong.
Oh, and you're wrong about other things as well,seemessss, etc. There is no 'Satan'. That's a boogeyman created by the same people who brought you Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny.
That's right, Madison Avenue is responsible for most of today's religious posturing and beliefs.
If an angle were protecting me against you he would appear to be a demon to you while being my angle and vice versa. Right?
gordona - I have angles everywhere, but never suspected that inanimate objects might protect me. Now angels are another matter. Have a nice day. :)
Having lived in third world countries I can tell you that kids are very resilient. These kids are going to school because parents are not crying and making a big deal out of things. Killers are everywhere in the world whether it be a nut job in the US or an Army in Syria. You can not escape it but you can learn to live with it. The lesson they are teaching their kids is to be strong and get an education and not let the bad guys win. What are we teaching our kids?
BreakerSailer The Syrian Army not the ones doing the killings , don't listen to our lying media , these are the thugs that the Saudis and Qataris paid us and NATO and Turkey to train and arm and smuggling into Syria , why you the Syrian army after all these years decided to kill his own childrens ??? quit listening to Anderson Cooper and Richard Engel , they are nothing but puppet to these no good rich Gulf states .
@BreakSailer : Thank you for a positive response. So many illiterate people post comments on here and don't know their facts that you truly stand out among them all.
Sorry I did not mean to comment on facts as to who is fighting when I mentioned the Army. I forgot how sensitive people are and like to nit pic. I was making an observation about how other peoples handle such things. I have spent the last ten years living in Colombia and can assure you that unless you live there or in Syria you really have no idea what is going on. That has been my experience for people and press commenting about Colombian politics anyway.
PS I did not say "the Syrian Army" anyway I said "an army in Syria." It did not warrant your response but if you think you did your good deed for the day then good boy. I guess Sarah missed it as well. Nobody seems to know how to think for themselves anymore...
If they're learning anything useful, that's one thing. If they're only learning the Koran, Jew hatred and jihad, it's a complete waste of time.
Prayhard, so when did the klan become so lovey, dovey with the jew boys? I must have missed a meeting or two.
Wait...Syria has schools? Huh, who knew?
O_O
Let's be clear here. The NRA and it's members are much happier with 20 school children killed than with an , assault weapons ban. These people are more interested in proving that they are happy with 20 children killed than they are happy with having to register their weapons.
Pardon me left for getting off topic - your name intrigues me. You do know that fascists/nazis were extreme right and the marxist/socialists were the extreme left, don't you? I'm trying to understand what you are saying with your handle.
so none of you have any actual constructive comments...run for congress...and get paid for your ignorance...
must really hate their kids to send them to die in a @!$%#hole school like that, too bad since they will never be able to grow up and kill others for the greater good of allal
Would intolerant bigots such as you speak such brainless piffle if you couldn't hide behind your computer monitor? I dare say, no.
wow, barron, you realllly know how to make an entire civilization look like complete insensitive and illiterate @!$%#s don't you?
Would you please make a side note that the opinions you express are the excrement coming from the darkest regions of your anus, please!
Some families don't have the option of sending their kids to private schools, ummkay? Just so you know it also dangerous to send your kids to school in places like Ireland and even Connecticut, barron.
Oh, and before you say anything else. . Shut the @!$%# up, barron!
This shows how pussified american kids are compared to others in the world. The babied kids here would be given "grief counselors" or given days off if mommy or daddy couldnt take them to school. These people are getting their kids ready for the real world. "Are your legs broken? Its not too far.. get off your ass and walk to school."
Tommy - there is definitely some truth to your statement.
While I'm not belittling what happened at the Sandy Hook, look at what's going on here. These kids go to school everyday in a war zone - I can't even imagine that - and are just expected to deal with it as a fact of life. I'm sure they don't have grief counselers or anything like that.