Goran Tomasevic / Reuters

Free Syrian Army fighters run across a street in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus on Jan. 15, 2013.

Goran Tomasevic / Reuters

A Free Syrian Army fighter rest as another fighter aims his rifle in the Zamalka neighborhood of Damascus on Jan. 15, 2013.

Goran Tomasevic / Reuters

Free Syrian Army fighters walk in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus on Jan. 15, 2013.

Slideshow: Syria uprising

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A look at the violence that has overtaken the country.

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As the Free Syrian Army continues to battle government forces in Damascus, Reuters photographer Goran Tomasevic has become one of the first independent photojournalists to reach rebel-held areas of the Syrian capital.

Syria's civil war is unleashing a "staggering humanitarian crisis" on the Middle East as hundreds of thousands of refugees flee violence including gang rape, the New York-based International Rescue Committee said on Monday.

-- Reuters

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