Reuters

Free Syrian Army fighters and civilians react as they run after a jet missile hit the al-Myassar neighborhood of Aleppo, Syria, on Feb. 20.

Reuters

People rescue a family member stuck in their house after a jet missile hit al-Myassar neighborhood of Aleppo, Syria, on Feb. 20.

By Reuters

A jet missile hit the al-Myassar neighborhood of Aleppo, Syria, on Wednesday. A "Scud-type" missile killed at least 20 people in Aleppo yesterday, according to opposition activists.

As the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, now a civil war, nears its two-year mark, rebels also landed three mortar bombs in the rarely-used presidential palace compound in the capital Damascus, opposition activists said on Tuesday.

The United Nations estimates 70,000 people have been killed in the conflict between largely Sunni Muslim rebels and Assad's supporters among his minority Alawite sect. An international diplomatic deadlock has prevented intervention, as the war worsens sectarian tensions throughout the Middle East.

A Russian official said on Tuesday that Moscow, which is a long-time ally of Damascus, would not immediately back U.N. investigators' calls for some Syrian leaders to face the International Criminal Court for war crimes. Continue reading.

Muzaffar Salman / Reuters

Free Syrian Army fighters and civilians search for survivors under rubble after a jet missile hit the al-Myassar neighborhood of Aleppo, Syria, on Feb. 20.

Muzaffar Salman / Reuters

A man carries a child who was wounded after a jet missile hit the al-Myassar neighborhood of Aleppo, Syria, on Feb. 20.

Muzaffar Salman / Reuters

A Free Syrian Army fighter carries the remnant of a missile fired by a jet at the al-Myassar neighborhood of Aleppo, Syria, on Feb. 20.

George Ourfalian / Reuters

Soldiers loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and their tank patrol the streets in al-Sabaa Bahrat district, an area controlled by Free Syrian Army fighters, in the center of Aleppo, Syria, on Feb. 20.

Previously on PhotoBlog:

• Syrian rocket destroys 3 buildings, kills 20, activists say
• Report: Syrian airstrike kills 20 in rebel-held Aleppo
• Moments of resilience, courage and even joy visible on the faces of Syrian refugee children
• Harrowing photos show last seconds of life on Syria's front line

Slideshow: Syria uprising

Goran Tomasevic / Reuters

A look back at the conflict that has overtaken the country.

Launch slideshow

Aleppo Media Center via AFP - Getty Images

Syrians inspect destruction following an apparent surface-to-surface missile strike on the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on Feb. 19. The attack killed at least 20 people and another 25 were missing, opposition activists said on Tuesday. The missile was identified from its remains as a Scud-type rocket that government forces have increasingly used in areas under opposition control in the province of Aleppo and in the province of Deir a-Zor to the east, they said.

Hamid Khatib / Reuters

A member of the Free Syrian Army along with civilians search for survivors after a Syrian army rocket attack on the rebel-held Jabal Badro district in the city of Aleppo, on Feb. 19.

Slideshow: Syria uprising

A look back at the conflict that has overtaken the country.

Launch slideshow

Reuters -- A Syrian army rocket attack on a rebel-held district in the city of Aleppo killed at least 20 people and another 25 were missing, opposition activists said on Tuesday.

The missile was identified from its remains as a Scud-type rocket that government forces have increasingly used in areas under opposition control in the province of Aleppo and in the province of Deir a-Zor to the east, they said.

"The rocket brought down three adjacent buildings in Jabal Badro district. The bodies are being dug up gradually. Some, including children, have died in hospitals," Mohammad Nour said by phone from Aleppo. He said testimony from survivors indicated that 25 people were still under the rubble.

Continue reading.

Hamid Khatib / Reuters

A member of the Free Syrian Army sits near where a Syrian army rocket attack took place at the rebel-held Jabal Badro district in the city of Aleppo, on Feb. 19.

Sia Kambou / AFP - Getty Images

A student writes on the blackboard in a classroom in Gao, Mali, on the first day schools reopened after the French bombing of Islamist targets, on Feb. 4. Schools reopened today in Gao after the town was taken on Jan. 26 by French and Malian forces from Islamists who had been occupying it for the last year.

Sia Kambou / AFP - Getty Images

Students attend a class in Gao on the first day schools reopened, on Feb. 4.

Sia Kambou / AFP - Getty Images

Students work in a classroom in Gao on the first day schools reopened on Feb. 4.

Sia Kambou / AFP - Getty Images

A teacher checks students' chalk boards in a classroom on the first day schools reopened on Feb. 4, in Gao, Mali. The majority of the school's tables and benches were taken by Islamists.

Previously on PhotoBlog:

• Children survive war-torn street of Mali
• Mob violence, looting follow fall of Mali towns
• Viral: Eerie photo of French soldier in Mali upsets military officials
• French and Malian troops take control of Diabaly
• Influx of foreign fighters threatens stability of Mali

Thomas Rassloff / EPA

A man holds a child in his arms after an airstrike in Aleppo, Syria, on Feb. 3, 2013.

An airstrike by Syrian government forces leveled an apartment building in a rebel-held neighborhood of Aleppo on Sunday, The Associated Press reported. 

A statement from the rebel-aligned Aleppo Media Center said at least 20 people were killed in the attack, five of them under the age of 18, according to Paul Watson, a reporter working in Aleppo for The Toronto Star.

Abdullah Al-Yassin / AP

People carry a body after a government airstrike hit the neighborhood of Ansari, in Aleppo on Feb. 3, 2013.

Abdullah Al-Yassin / AP

A man carries his sister, who was wounded in a government airstrike in Ansari, Aleppo, on Feb. 3, 2013.

Abdullah Al-Yassin / AP

A boy holds a bird in his hand that he said was injured in a an airstrike in Ansari, Aleppo on Feb. 3, 2013.

Related:

Syria opposition urges Assad to respond to dialogue call

Harrowing photos show last seconds of life on Syria's front line

Slideshow: Syria uprising

Jeff J. Mitchell / Getty Images

Syrian refugee children play in the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan on Jan. 31, 2013.

More than half the 642,000 refugees from the Syrian conflict flooding into neighboring countries are children, according to the United Nations. It's tempting to find hope in these portraits of children at the Zaatari camp in Jordan, to see resilience and courage instead of emotional scarring, but the words of a senior U.N. official, remind us that this may not be the case.

"This is a children's refugee crisis. It's heartbreaking when we see these children arriving and particularly what we see in the days that follow. Many of them are withdrawn, we hear from the parents about bedwetting. These children have experienced and witnessed some of the most horrific scenes, seeing their parents or loved ones killed, their homes destroyed, their schools effected," said Panos Moumtzis, the U.N. Refugee Agency regional coordinator for Syrian refugees. 

Read the full Reuters story from Jan. 17. 

Jeff J. Mitchell / Getty Images

Jeff J. Mitchell / Getty Images

Jeff J. Mitchell / Getty Images

Jeff J. Mitchell / Getty Images

Jeff J. Mitchell / Getty Images

A Syrian man carries a newborn baby in the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan on Jan. 31.

Slideshow: Syria uprising

Goran Tomasevic / Reuters

A look back at the conflict that has overtaken the country.

Launch slideshow

Previously on PhotoBlog:

• Harrowing photos show last seconds of life on Syria's front line
• Photos reveal Syrian rebels taking fight to Damascus
• On the move again, Syrian refugees flee flooding

Follow @NBCNewsPictures

GRAPHIC WARNING: Contains images which some viewers may find disturbing.

Goran Tomasevic / Reuters

A Free Syrian Army fighter looks at his comrade as he gets shot by sniper fire during heavy fighting in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus, on Jan 30. The Free Syrian Army fighter on the left was wounded moments later. The fighter on the right died soon after being shot.

Photographer Goran Tomasevic has been covering the conflict in Syria for Reuters, offering the world a view into the historic city of Damascus, once strictly off-limits to journalists without a government escort. While it has become tragically routine to see violent and gruesome stories from the country’s civil war, Tomasevic’s dramatic photos from today’s front lines stand out. The series captures not only the last seconds of a rebel’s life before he is shot by a sniper, but also show as the body is taken back to his friends, while under attack. We see an intimate narrative that examines the realities of war for the rebels.

Tomasevic tells the harrowing story on the Reuters Photographers Blog:

One moment, I heard two incoming shots. I was already aiming my camera on these two Syrian rebels. I heard the scream and saw one of them get shot. He was still alive as I was shooting but dying as he was carried away.

There was intensive fighting as the rebel group I was with in a Damascus neighborhood was trying to overtake a government checkpoint some 50 meters away. There was another group of rebels who were supposed to fire rocket propelled grenades from a further distance away from the checkpoint. After that, the group I was with was meant to engage the soldiers manning the checkpoint.

At the checkpoint I could clearly see sandbags and tanks. I didn’t look at the tanks anymore because I needed to take cover. I pulled back a little to look for the best position to take pictures and how to be covered in the best possible way.

Goran Tomasevic / Reuters

Free Syrian Army fighters take position just before they were hit by Syrian Army sniper fire during heavy fighting in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus, on Jan. 30. The fighter on the right died soon after, while his comrade was wounded.

Goran Tomasevic / Reuters

Free Syrian Army fighters carry a comrade who was shot by sniper fire during heavy fighting in the Ain Tarma neighbourhood of Damascus, on Jan. 30.

There were two rebels next to me and two rebels across the street. A couple of sniper shots were fired. They were clearly sniper shots, not Ak’s, as they came one by one. I could clearly see through the lens when they actually shot the rebel. The rebel next to him was also shot and injured but he should recover after being hit in the stomach.

After the rebel was killed they pulled back maybe 20-30 meters and I took pictures of the body being taken out. The hole where the rebels had to drag the body through was really small and it was difficult to drag him through. There was a lot of fire as the rebels dragged him away.

Goran Tomasevic / Reuters

Free Syrian Army fighters run for cover as a tank shell explodes on a wall during heavy fighting in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus, on Jan. 30.

Goran Tomasevic / Reuters

Free Syrian Army fighters run for cover as a tank shell explodes on a wall during heavy fighting in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus, on Jan. 30.

A tank fired a couple of shells onto the top of the building and rubble fell down around us.

The rebels kept on fighting for a few hours. It was heavy, with a lot of RPGs and attacks on multiple sites. They pulled back after a couple of hours of intensive fighting and fired some mortar shells.

Goran Tomasevic / Reuters

A Free Syrian Army fighter fires a rocket propelled grenade during heavy fighting in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus, on Jan. 30.

Goran Tomasevic / Reuters

A Free Syrian Army fighter gestures in front of a burning barricade during heavy fighting in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus, on Jan. 30.

 From what I’ve seen the fighting is up and down. The lines between the Free Syrian Army and the government army are pretty clear. Since I’ve been here it’s literally been going house by house. The other day there was a rebel next to me who was struck by shrapnel. The rebels and the government forces are close enough to be throwing hand grenades at one another. You can hear them shouting at each other.

The lines seem to be pretty much the same. One day the government takes a couple of houses and then the rebels take a couple of houses again so it is pushing back and forth.

Goran Tomasevic / Reuters

A wounded Free Syrian Army fighter cries after hearing that his friend died in a mission in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus, on Jan. 30.

Related links:

• Photos reveal Syrian rebels taking fight to Damascus
• Slideshow: Syria uprising
• Goran Tomasevic's photos of the battle for Aleppo
• 'We escaped death': Syrian refugees struggle with cold, hunger and uncertainty

Jerome Delay / AP

Angry crowds shout at suspected Islamist extremists in the back of an army truck in Gao, northern Mali, on Jan. 29. Four suspects were arrested after being found by a youth militia calling themselves the "Gao Patrolmen". Malian soldiers prevented the mob from lynching them.

Jerome Delay / AP

Malian soldiers guard suspected Islamist extremists after throwing them in the back of the army truck in Gao, northern Mali, on Jan. 29.

Joe Penney / Reuters

Resident Ousmane Togo is reflected on a piece of broken mirror as he surveys the remains of a hotel hit by French air strikes in Douentza, Mali on Jan. 29. The hotel was used as a base for Islamists and was hit by French air strikes over a week ago.

Reuters reports -- French-backed Malian troops searched house-to-house in Gao and Timbuktu on Tuesday, uncovering arms and explosives abandoned by Islamist fighters, and France said it would look to hand over longer-term security operations to African troops.

French and Malian troops retook the two Saharan towns in northern Mali virtually unopposed at the weekend after an 18-day French-led offensive that has pushed back the al Qaeda-allied militants into hideouts in the deserts and mountains.

Malian government soldiers were combing through the Niger River towns and their neighborhoods of dusty alleys and mud-brick homes. In Gao, they arrested at least five suspected Islamist rebels and sympathizers, turned over by local people, and uncovered caches of weapons and counterfeit money.

Residents reported some looting of shops in Timbuktu owned by Arabs and Tuaregs suspected of having helped the Islamists who had occupied the world-famous seat of Islamic learning, a UNESCO World Heritage site, since last year.

Fleeing Islamist fighters torched a Timbuktu library holding priceless ancient manuscripts, damaging many.

Read the full story.

Eric Feferberg / AFP - Getty Images

A Malian tries to break the lock off a store front as looters and residents stand by in the streets of Timbuktu on Jan. 29. Hundreds of Malians looted stores in Timbuktu on Tuesday, saying the shops belonged to "Arabs" and "terrorists" linked to the radical Islamists who occupied the desert town for 10 months.

Eric Feferberg / AFP - Getty Images

Looters crowd to get into a shop in the streets of Timbuktu on Jan. 29.

Eric Feferberg / AFP - Getty Images

A Malian soldier tries to disperse looters in the streets of Timbuktu on Jan. 29.

Eric Feferberg / AFP - Getty Images

Timbuktu residents plunder stores they say belong to Arabs, Mauritanians and Algerians who they accuse of supporting the Al Qaeda-linked Islamists during their 10-month rule over the ancient center of Islamic learning, on Jan. 29.

Related links:

• PhotoBlog - Viral: Eerie photo of French soldier in Mali upsets military officials
• French-led forces in Mali seal off Timbuktu; rebels torch ancient library
• PhotoBlog - French and Malian troops take control of Diabaly

Reuters

Protesters opposing Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi march despite a nighttime curfew in the city of Suez on Jan. 28. Egyptian protesters defied a nighttime curfew in restive towns along the Suez Canal, attacking police stations and ignoring emergency rule imposed by Islamist President Morsi to end days of clashes that have killed at least 52 people. Egypt's army chief said political strife was pushing the state to the brink of collapse - a stark warning from the institution that ran the country until last year as Cairo's first freely elected leader struggles to contain bloody street violence.

By Tom Perry, Yasmine Saleh and Yusri Mohamed, Reuters

Political opponents spurned a call by Mohammed Morsi for talks on Monday to try to end the violence. Instead, huge crowds of protesters took to the streets in Cairo and Alexandria, and in the three Suez Canal cities - Port Said, Ismailia and Suez - where Morsi imposed emergency rule and a curfew on Sunday.

"Down, down with Mohammed Morsi! Down, down with the state of emergency!" crowds shouted in Ismailia. In Cairo, flames lit up the night sky as protesters set vehicles ablaze.

The demonstrators accuse Hosni Mubarak's successor Morsi of betraying the two-year-old revolution. Morsi and his supporters accuse the protesters of seeking to overthrow Egypt's first ever democratically elected leader by undemocratic means. Continue reading the full story.

Slideshow: Tempers flare in Egypt

Khalil Hamra / AP

On the second anniversary of the uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak, huge crowds take to the streets in five cities.

Launch slideshow

Previously on PhotoBlog:

• Baton-wielding police threaten protesters as Egypt's stability teeters
• Weekend violence claims more than 45 lives in Egypt
• Protesters fill Tahrir Square on anniversary of Egyptian revolution

Lucie Parsaghian / EPA

A group of Russian citizens hold hands after crossing the border from Syria at Al-Masnaa, Lebanon, on Jan. 22.

Jamal Saidi / Reuters

A Russian child evacuated from Damascus sits in a bus as their convoy arrives at the Masna'a border crossing between Lebanon and Syria in the eastern Bekaa region of Lebanon on Jan. 22.

Bilal Hussein / AP

A group of Russian citizens ride a bus shortly after crossing the border from Syria into Lebanon at the Masna'a border crossing in Lebanon, on Jan. 22. Some 80 Russian citizens crossed into Lebanon as Moscow began evacuating some of the tens of thousands of Russians who live in Syria.

By Bassem Mroue and Vladimir Isachenkov, The Associated Press

Four buses carrying Russian citizens escaping the Syrian civil war crossed into Lebanon on Tuesday, in the first evacuation organized by Moscow since the start of the conflict nearly two years ago.

About 80 people, mostly women and children, were on the buses, according to an official from the Russian Embassy in Beirut who was waiting for the group at the Masnaa border crossing in eastern Lebanon. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

The evacuation was the strongest sign yet of Russia's doubts in the ability of President Bashar Assad's regime to cling to power in Syria.

Read the full story.

Jamal Saidi / Reuters

A Syrian man holds his sister after they fled their home near Damascus, as they walk past Russian nationals sitting in a bus who have been evacuated from Damascus during their arrival at the Lebanese Masna'a border point in eastern Bekaa on Jan. 22.

Previously on PhotoBlog:

• Photos reveal Syrian rebels taking fight to Damascus
• Rare snowstorm blankets Holy Land, brings brief joy to war-weary Damascus
• On the move again, Syrian refugees flee flooding
• Assad gives defiant speech as Syrian rebels edge closer to Damascus
• Syrian children attend school in Aleppo despite continued bombardment, bloodshed

Slideshow: Syria uprising

Goran Tomasevic / Reuters

A look at the violence that has overtaken the country.

Launch slideshow

Issouf Sanogo / AFP - Getty Images

People gather near an armored vehicle as French soldiers arrive in the city of Diabaly on Jan. 21. Today, French and Malian troops recaptured the Malian towns of Diabaly and Douentza from Islamist fighters, France's defense minister said. Diabaly has been the center of air strikes and fighting since being seized by Islamists a week ago.

Joe Penney / Reuters

French soldiers stand guard in front of charred pickup trucks in Diabaly, Mali, on Jan. 21.

Jerome Delay / AP

A Malian soldier checks identity papers in the center of Diabaly, Mali, approximately 320 miles north of the capital Bamako on Jan. 21. French and Malian troops were in the city whose capture by radical Islamists prompted the French military intervention.

Issouf Sanogo / AFP - Getty Images

A Malian soldier holds a French and Malian flag after arriving in the city of Diabaly on Jan. 21.

By Bate Felix, Reuters

French and Malian armored columns rolled into the towns of Diabaly and Douentza in central Mali on Monday after the al Qaida-linked rebels who had seized them fled into the bush to avoid air strikes. 

France said the advance was a significant step in its campaign to break Islamist fighters' grip over Mali's vast desert north, a presence raising fears of the region becoming a an African launchpad for international militant attacks.

The stakes in Mali rose dramatically last week when Islamist gunmen cited France's intervention as the reason for attacking a gas plant in neighboring Algeria, seizing hundreds of hostages and sowing fears the conflict would spill across borders. Continue reading the full story.

Issouf Sanogo / AFP - Getty Images

A girl looks at Islamists pickup trucks destroyed during aerial strikes in Diabaly, Mali, on Jan. 21. Today, French and Malian troops recaptured the Malian towns of Diabaly and Douentza from Islamist fighters, France's defense minister said.

Joe Penney / Reuters

Malian soldiers carry a box of ammunition after searching through debris at a Malian military camp in Diabaly, Mali, on Jan. 21. French air strikes hit the camp a week ago after it was taken over by al Qaeda-linked rebels.

Joe Penney / Reuters

Malian soldiers stand guard at a checkpoint in Diabaly, Mali, on Jan. 21. Diabaly was retaken by French and Malian forces after al Qaeda-linked rebels took over the town a week ago.

GRAPHIC WARNING: Contains images which some viewers may find disturbing.

Musadeq Sadeq / AP

A victim is transported to a hospital following a militant attack in Kabul, on Jan. 16.

S. Sabawoon / EPA

Afghan security officials inspect the scene of a suicide bomb attack that was targeting the office of the Afghan intelligence agency in Kabul on Jan. 16.

By Mirwais Harooni and Hamid Shalizi, Reuters

Six suicide bombers launched a coordinated attack on Afghanistan's spy agency in Kabul on Wednesday, killing at least two and wounding 22 others, Afghan officials said.

The attack started at around noon (0730 GMT) when the first assailant detonated a large car bomb near the entrance to the National Directorate of Security (NDS), the Kabul police chief's office said in a statement.

Five others strapped with explosives and driving a minivan were shot dead as they tried to enter the NDS compound, it said. Two NDS guards were killed by the first bomber and 22 others wounded, security and health officials said. Continue reading.

Shah Marai / AFP - Getty Images

An Afghan woman with her child move to safety as security personnel secure the site of a suicide attack near the Afghan intelligence agency headquarters in Kabul on Jan. 16.

Shah Marai / AFP - Getty Images

A truck driver peers through the broken windshield of his vehicle at the site of a suicide attack near the Afghan intelligence agency headquarters in Kabul on Jan. 16.

Ahmad Jamshid / AP

Security men with the Afghan intelligence services talk on their cell phones at the scene of a bombing in Kabul on Jan. 16.

Slideshow: Afghanistan: Nation at a crossroads

Aref Karimi / AFP - Getty Images

More than ten years after the beginning of the war, Afghanistan faces external pressure to reform as well as ongoing internal conflicts.

Launch slideshow

Previously on PhotoBlog:

• White House releases photo from President Obama's 2012 visit to Kabul, Afghanistan
• Children wait for winter aid in Afghanistan
• Snow, extreme weather threaten 2 million Afghans
• Fire sweeps through Kabul cloth market
• Afghan refugees prepare for another winter

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

/

A look at the violence that has overtaken the country.

Launch slideshow

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

Related content:

• Goran Tomasevic's photos of the battle for Aleppo
• 'We escaped death': Syrian refugees struggle with cold, hunger and uncertainty
• Syria rebels form their own secret police
• Video: Dozens killed in Syria air attacks