Antonio Bronic / Reuters

Drazen Matovic, a 36-year-old Croatian Serb, brushes his teeth in the bathroom of an abandoned primary school in the village of Strmica that serves as a makeshift refugee camp for a small group of mostly Serbs, who are waiting to be rehoused, Feb. 20, 2013.

By Antonio Bronic, Reuters

Ethnic conflict shook Croatia to the core during the bloody break-up of Yugoslavia in the 1990s. Today, both Serbs and Croats in the country still bear the scars – something clearly visible if you visit the areas around the southern town of Knin.

Before the war broke out, most of Knin’s citizens were Serbs. When Croatia declared independence in 1991, Serbs who wanted to remain part of Yugoslavia staged a bloody rebellion, and Knin became their stronghold. The town was recaptured by the Croatian army in 1995 and the Serb population fled in the thousands, leaving behind their homes, most of which were soon torched or blown up by the Croats.

After the war ended, some of the Serbs returned and Croatian authorities promised they would receive equal assistance in rebuilding their damaged properties. But 18 years after the conflict, many are still making do with basic or temporary living arrangements. 

Antonio Bronic / Reuters

Drazen Matovic eats food in his room in an abandoned primary school. In 1992 when Matovic was 15-years-old, he fled to Serbia with his parents to escape the fighting.

Drazen Matovic has been living in an abandoned primary school for eight years. He wants to work, but he faces a major obstacle: he can’t get papers. This means that any work he does would be illegal, and he is not eligible for welfare payments either. The problem is a Catch 22: The Croatian government says that he is Serbian, so he can’t have Croatian papers, while the Serbian government says he is Croatian, so can’t have Serbian papers. Read more at Reuters' Photographers Blog.

Antonio Bronic / Reuters

Drazen Matovic puts his hand on a copy of the bible in his room in the abandoned school. Drazen came back to Croatia in 2005 and was sent to Strmica by the UN refugee agency. Croatian authorities have promised that returning Serbs would be given equal assistance in rebuilding war-damaged properties.

Antonio Bronic / Reuters

Matovic carries some food into an abandoned primary school in the village of Strmica that serves as a makeshift refugee camp for a small group of people, mostly Serbs, who are waiting to be rehoused, Even though Croatian authorities have promised that returning Serbs would be given equal assistance in rebuilding war-damaged properties, 18 years after the conflict, many are still making do with basic or temporary living arrangements.

See more Croatia images in PhotoBlog

This story was originally published on Thu Mar 21, 2013 2:50 PM EDT

Muhammed Muheisen / AP

Syrian rebels attend a training session in Maaret Ikhwan, near Idlib, Syria, Dec. 17, 2012.

Muhammed Muheisen / AP

Syrian rebel fighter Ibrahim Iaaa, 20, a former construction worker, poses for a picture after a training session in Maaret Ikhwan, near Idlib, Syria, Dec. 17.

By Karin Laub
Associated Press

MAARET MISREEN, Syria -- The new Syrian rebel chief said he's been moving between safe houses since taking up command, even changing quarters twice in one night when he feared regime spies.

Grappling with largely untrained and at times undisciplined fighters, Salim Idris said in an interview that he is trying to turn local militias into a united force of some 120,000 men for a final push against President Bashar Assad.

The challenges keep him awake at night, said Idris, a former general who defected from the Syrian army five months ago and was chosen as rebel chief of staff in a meeting of several hundred field commanders this month in Turkey.

Idris is "very afraid" a cornered Assad might unleash chemical weapons on the fighters. He said old friends of his still in the regime have warned him that the military, which already fired several Scuds, is training more ready-to-fire missiles on rebel strongholds in Syria's northwest. Full story…

EDITOR'S NOTE: All images made available to NBC News on Dec. 19.

Muhammed Muheisen / AP

Syrian rebels listen to their trainer on how to use a rocket-propelled grenade launcher in Maaret Ikhwan, near Idlib, Syria, Dec. 17.

Muhammed Muheisen / AP

A Syrian rebel prepares for a video interview at headquarters in Maaret Ikhwan, near Idlib, Syria, Dec. 12.

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By Erika Solomon, Reuters

HAREM, Syria, Nov 8 (Reuters) - Unarmed and cornered by Syrian rebel fighters, the man seemed to accept his death with more silent sorrow than surprise; his killers did not hesitate as they shot their prisoner.

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

Asmaa Waguih / Reuters

A member of the Free Syrian Army is reflected in a mirror in a house they use as a base during street fighting in Harem town, Idlib Governorate.

The incident, filmed by a Reuters video crew, happened last week in Harem, near Aleppo, where rebels have surrounded hundreds of troops and militiamen loyal to President Bashar al-Assad. Taking one neighbourhood after days of bitter street fighting, opposition fighters went from house to house.

From one building they hauled a man in middle age, dressed in casual clothes, black bearded and without a weapon. He seemed anxious and shied away as he stumbled into the street. Three rebels fighters casually raised their Kalashnikov rifles. A shot rang out, then another. A third. The man began to fall. Still silent. More shots. He lay still. A final round hit his head.

Asmaa Waguih / Reuters

Free Syrian Army members fire on a man they suspect to be from the pro-government forces during a combing operation in Harem town, Idlib Governorate.

Asmaa Waguih / Reuters

A wounded man, suspected to be from pro-government forces, talks to members of the Free Syrian Army as he tries to convince them he did not shoot at them during fighting in Harem town, Idlib Governorate.

For rebel commanders who present their siege of the former Crusader fortress town of Harem as a showcase for efforts to forge a disciplined fighting force out of motley volunteers, the killing was an embarrassment, offering evidence that Assad's "shabbiha" gunmen have no monopoly on atrocities.

Brigade commander Basel Eissa did shout at his men but was unable to stop them. Leaders of the unit said the fighters were angry at taking casualties. They also justified their action by saying they later found documents showing the dead man was a loyalist army officer - though that would be no defence in a war crimes court.

"I try to remind them that there are moral reasons we do not just kill soldiers," Eissa said. "And beyond that, I tell them that strategically it is bad - we get help or information when we spare these men's lives. We are not their judge, God is."

Commanders are also aware that bad publicity could hamper rebel efforts to secure arms and funding from abroad that might allow them to better match the tanks, aircraft and artillery which Assad's forces are using against them to deadly effect - Eissa himself was killed in an air strike earlier this week.

Asmaa Waguih / Reuters

Members of the Free Syrian Army run to avoid a sniper during clashes with pro-government forces in Harem town, Idlib Governorate.

Asmaa Waguih / Reuters

A member of the Free Syrian Army talks to a woman during a patrol to search for pro-government forces in Harem town, Idlib Governorate.

Asmaa Waguih / Reuters

Free Syrian Army fighters fire a rocket towards a castle where pro-government forces are based, in Harem town, Idlib Governorate.

War Games

U.N. investigators accuse pro-government forces of war crimes, including the murder and torture of civilians, in what they said in August may be a state-directed policy. They said rebel fighters were also guilty of war crimes, including executing prisoners, but on a smaller scale.

Asmaa Waguih / Reuters

Members of the Free Syrian Army walk past dead bodies suspected to be from pro-government forces during a combing operation in Harem town, Idlib Governorate.

Assad's state media give extensive coverage to allegations of atrocities committed by opponents whom the president brands as "terrorists" bent on destroying Syrian society.

Major Mohammed al-Ali, an army defector at Harem trying to coordinate rebel brigades in the hope of greater international support, said: "In every battle, there are violations. We deal with them harshly to make an example of them."

There was no sign of immediate punishment, however, for those fighters who killed the prisoner last week, although their commanders in field reprimanded them. After the shooting, the unit involved continued its operation.

Elsewhere in Harem, Reuters saw the bodies of four uniformed soldiers lined up in a garden, all shot in the head. And, although dozens of prisoners were held by rebels at Harem, at least one fighter there described commanders' calls for fair treatment as a smokescreen to keep the killing hidden.

More and more instances of executions are coming to light, including a video uploaded to the Internet last week that showed rebels in another part of Idlib province in the northwest lining several soldiers up against a wall and gunning them down, an act the United Nations has said could constitute a war crime. 

Asmaa Waguih / Reuters

The body of a member of the Free Syrian Army is seen on the roof of a building after he was shot dead during fighting with pro-government forces in Harem town, Idlib governorate.

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Photos taken by Reuters photographer Asmaa Waguih on Oct. 26  - 30, but made available to NBC News today.

Slideshow: Syria uprising

A look back at the violence that has overtaken the country

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Carlos Osorio / AP

Chloe Mills, 1-year-old daughter of Army Staff Sgt. Travis Mills and his wife Kelsey, crawls past her father's walking legs in his boyhood home in Vassar, Mich., on Oct. 4, 2012.

Carlos Osorio / AP

Travis Mills plays with his daughter Chloe.

The Associated Press reports from Vassar, Mich. — Army Staff Sgt. Travis Mills had been a lot of places since losing his four limbs in Afghanistan. The one place he hadn't been was where people knew him best.

He finally returned to his Michigan hometown this week — six months after the explosion that cost him his arms and legs — to serve as the grand marshal of his old high school's homecoming parade.

"This is my new normal, and it's all about how I adjust to it," he said moments after using his prosthetic legs to walk from the living room to the sun room at his childhood home. "There's no good that's gonna come from me sitting there and wondering, 'Why'd this happen? Why me? Now what do I do?' The answer's right in front of you: It happened because it happened." Read the full story.

Visit Travis Mills' web page to learn more about his road to recovery.

Related links:

• At long last: Remains of soldiers killed in World War II put to rest
• Wounded warriors show grit, determination on journey to recovery
• Funeral for a New Jersey soldier killed in Afghanistan

Carlos Osorio / AP

Mills, right, is helped with his home legs by his father, Dennis Mills.

Carlos Osorio / AP

Kelsey Mills helps her husband navigate the newly installed ramp at his boyhood home.

Carlos Osorio / AP

Travis Mills rides in the back of a Jeep during the homecoming parade on Thursday, Oct. 4. Mills, his wife, Kelsey, and their 1-year-old daughter, Chloe, were the grand marshals of Vassar High School's homecoming parade.

Carlos Osorio / AP

Julie Best, a friend of Travis Mills, cheers as he rides in the homecoming parade.

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Sam Tarling / AFP - Getty Images

Slideshow: Syria uprising

/

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

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A woman covers her face as she holds her daughter during an air strike by Syrian air force near her house in the Ahad neighborhood of Aleppo on Sept. 13, 2012. Syrian fighter jets and tanks pounded the northern city of Aleppo, an AFP journalist said, as witnesses reported rebels advancing into the key contested central Midan district.

Related content: 

PhotoBlog: The battle for Aleppo: My 18 days with the Syrian rebels

PhotoBlog: Who are the Syrian rebels?

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Kadir van Lohuizen / NOOR

Samad and Dina Jabbo dance at a banquet organized for the Iraqi community in El Cajon, Calif. Samad, 40, his wife Dina, 37, and their daughters Monica, 16, and Milano, 12, and son Antonio, 7 months, arrived in the United States in June 2010 after living in Damascus, Syria, for four years. They are Christians from Baghdad and have green cards. They felt their lives were in danger when they lived in Iraq.

Photojournalist Kadir van Lohuizen traveled from the southern tip of South America to the far reaches of Alaska on the North American continent to explore migration in the Americas. What he found both supported and defied stereotypes, which he reported on a website and an app for iPad called Via Panam.

“Little Baghdad” is the nickname for El Cajon, a suburb of San Diego that is home to a high concentration of the 116,000 Iraqis living in the United States. The Kurds came in the late 1980s, followed later by Sunnis, Shiites and Christians. They live together peacefully, far away from the violence in Iraq, but life is far from easy. Many lost their social status and networks of family and friends when they emigrated, and they often struggle to find work. Xenophobia is also an ever-present obstacle.

Kadir van Lohuizen / NOOR

Monica Jabbo opens her locker at school in El Cajon. She and her sister Milano love being in the U.S. but it's still a struggle for the family -- they have to finance day-to-day life and pay their rent, which is $1,200. Because Monica's father Samad is unemployed, the family has to rely heavily on government assistance -- $760 per month.

The United States admits thousands of Iraqis each year as refugees -- although that is only a fraction of the number that Iraq's Middle Eastern neighbors and some European countries have absorbed. Nonetheless, their numbers in the San Diego area rose rapidly after the American invasion of Iraq. El Cajon, around 15 miles northeast of San Diego, has almost 7,000 Iraqi-born residents out of a total population of 100,000. A further 3,000 have Iraqi ancestry, according to the 2010 U.S. Census.

Kadir van Lohuizen / NOOR

The Baghdad cafe in El Cajon, above, is a popular tea house frequented by many Iraqis in the community.

In recent years, Iraqi stores and restaurants have been cropping up across the city, the Arabic script signs above their doors quickly becoming part of the city's scene. But the growing Iraqi presence has also brought some unsavory characters: According to authorities, members of Iraqi criminal organizations from Detroit are now active in El Cajon. In late 2011, police raided an Iraqi club in search of drugs and weapons.

Kadir van Lohuizen / NOOR

Mohammed Mustafa, 68, in his store in El Cajon. Mustafa and his wife Nasrin, 58, have eight children, two of whom live at home. They are from Dohok in Iraqi Kurdistan. In August 1988 they fled to Diyarbakir in Turkish Kurdistan, and in September 1991 they arrived in New York. They made their way to El Cajon in June 1993. Mustafa feels he has made a mistake by coming to the U.S. and not returning to Kurdistan, where the economy nowadays is growing. The family recently opened this 'Community Fashion' store but business is very slow, he says.

Many Iraqis in El Cajon say xenophobia is common, and some fear being the victim of a hate crime. It is not an unfounded worry -- a 32-year-old Iraqi woman was murdered in El Cajon in what appeared to be a racially motivated attack in March. Next to her body police found a note threatening her family. "Go back to your own country, you're a terrorist," it read.

Kadir van Lohuizen / NOOR

Breakfast at home. Khattab Aljubori, 37, and his wife Suhad, 31, frequently speak to their family in Iraq through Skype. The computer is parked near the table so that they can have breakfast 'together'. The family, including children Ibrahim, 4, Awos, 3, and twins Mustafa and Fatima, 6 months, as well as Khattab's mother Nhanaa, 61, came to San Diego in November 2010 from Babylon, Iraq. Khattab worked for the U.S. in Iraq as a computer and info system administrator and was often threatened for being a U.S. agent. In the end it became so dangerous for him and his family that they sought asylum in the U.S. and were granted visas.

Iraqis in El Cajon make an effort to support their fellow immigrants. Each year the Iraqi community organizes a large celebration that brings everyone together. Local businessmen meet one another and newly arrived immigrants learn about life in America from their established countrymen.

Kadir van Lohuizen / NOOR

Khattab with his family in a park in San Diego. While they lived comfortably in Iraq, they find it much harder to be successful in the U.S. and they say they feel they've lost their dignity. Khattab likes the U.S. but his wife wants to go back to Iraq. She says she feels locked up and misses her family. Finances are also an issue -- Khattab earns some money repairing people's computers but they depend on government support and sometimes find it difficult to pay the rent.

Slideshow: Migration in the Americas

K. van Lohuizen / NOOR

From Colombians fleeing war to North Americans retirees moving to Nicaragua, a photographer's journey from Chile to Alaska explores both the expected and unexpected patterns of migration in the Americas

Launch slideshow

Experience the entire journey, from Chile to Alaska, by exploring the slideshow at right, the Via Panam website or by downloading the app for iPad.

More Photoblogs from the Migration in the Americas series:
Mom works in US while family stays in El Salvador
US retirees flock to Nicaragua
On the run from water in Panama
Bolivia hopes for windfall from producing lithium

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James Akena / Reuters

A government soldier holds his position in the eastern Congolese town of Rumangabo on July 26, 2012.

Reuters - Congolese rebels and government forces traded heavy weapons fire around two eastern villages on Friday, forcing thousands of civilians to flee towards the provincial capital days ahead of a regional summit due to tackle the rebellion. Read More

See more about the Congo on PhotoBlog

James Akena / Reuters

A government soldier watches a man carry a boy with a bullet wound in his leg in the eastern Congolese town of Rumangabo on July 26.

James Akena / Reuters

Congolese government troops and tanks move through the eastern Congolese town of Rumangabo on July 26.

Phil Moore / AFP - Getty Images

Congolese crowd into a building following a clash between M23 rebels and the Congolese army on the edge of Rugari, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo's restive North Kivu province on July 26.

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