Syria - the World's Blind Spot

The UN Human Rights Commission reported today that it has confirmed at least 93,000 deaths in the Syrian civil war. But the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said it was impossible to provide an exact number, which could be far higher. The latest report adds more confirmed killings to the previous time period and an additional 27,000 between December and April. And the outrageous truth buried in these numbers is that 6,500 children have been killed - 1,600 of them under the age of 10. Also this week, US officials had hoped to reach a decision on arming Syria's rebels but they are still uncertain whether that's the best way to reshape a war that now includes Lebanon's Hezbollah and Iranian fighters supporting Assad's armed forces, and al-Qaida-linked extremists backing the opposition. AP reports that President Barack Obama and his national security team are "greatly concerned" by the worsening situation in Syria, according to White House spokesman Jay Carney. Obama continues to review and consider additional options for US involvement, Carney said, adding that he expects Syria will be discussed at the Group of Eight summit next week in Northern Ireland. ~~~~~ Dear readers, let's review again the surreal state of affairs in Syria. The rebel forces were chased from a stronghold, Qusair, last week - the last defenders fleeing through fields as al-Assad forces pursued. More than 100 were killed, and some died despite doctors and nurses in the fleeing contingent, because they lacked the ordinary medical equipment and medicines that could easily have saved lives. The loss of Qusair leaves al-Assad and Hezbollah in command of one of two vital rebel supply lines linking southern Syria and Lebanon. It also leaves Hezbollah in a position of strength in both Syria and along the borders with Israel, which is once again facing the very real prospect of Hezbollah attack with Iranian supplied weapons. The Iranian weapons could soon include nuclear bombs, if the West continues to confront the possibility of a nuclear Iran the way it is now confronting the Syrian disaster. Meanwhile the disheartened rebels are preparing to defend the routes northward toward Aleppo, their other stronghold and supply route. Al-Assad forces are already in the region around Homs, although the rebel force took a military installation after a pitched battle this week. The rebel command also hit the Damascus airport today, a first. But, it would appear that the Syrian rebels have abandoned hope of western arms and they say they are looking to jihadist groups for these gravely needed weapons without which they cannot win..~~~~~ The American, European and UN handling of the Syria civil war may be the worst example ever of the inability of the international community to decide what it believes or how to act on the few core beliefs that actually remain as the fiber binding them together as human beings. Words fail me.