U.S. Ambassador Returning to Syria Despite 'Insane Escalation' of Violence
Maybe Russia wouldn't have ditched Bashar al-Assad if he stopped doing gross stuff like bombing a line-up of Syrian citizens lined up to get bread because there's an food shortage because of the civil war there.
That's exactly what he did today, though. Reports out of Syria are saying a warplane bombed a bakery today where dozens of people were lined up to buy bread. The bakery was an easy target for the Syrian government because of how little food there is in the city, and:
The bakery was one of three in the city. When word spread on Sunday that a flour shipment from Turkey had come in, people began lining up around noon, waiting for their turn at its windows for bread after a stretch of days when the bakeries had been idled. At least three bombs fell near the bakery, Samer and other activists said.
The struggle for food and lack of simple things like bread has been a huge story in Syria over the last few months. Innocent citizens are starving because of the conflict. The city the attack occurred in, Hilfaya, was recently liberated by the Syrian rebels.
The footage of the aftermath, seen here in this Al-Jazeera report, is disturbing:
Also, there are some initial and very unconfirmed reports coming out as we write this of Syria using chemical weapons in Homs today:
Breaking: the first martyr to die with the poisoned gas in Homs, moment ago. #Syria
— Ḱ@яℯℯм ℒαḯł@н (@KareemLailah) December 23, 2012
Activists: The regime army used chemicals in its attack on #Homs today. Skin color changes, suffocation, and hysteria were reported. #Syria
— Hani (@Ugariti_Homsi) December 23, 2012
It should be noted that U.N. Syrian envoy Lakhdar Brahimi is in Damascus today meeting with Bashar al-Assad. We can't imagine he'll be too pleased to learn about this. The president certainly won't be, either.
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