Syria's border with Israel is the last national boundary that refugees so far have not crossed seeking safety, and to close this potential avenue of escape is unconscionable.
Social media is undoubtedly giving us more real time insight into how rape is used systematically during conflict. But if the global phenomenon of rape in is to be challenged, we can't allow it to be used in the propaganda war either.
The quick succession of crucial developments on the Syrian scene has brought international players back to the strategy-drawing board, some of them confused, some of them angry, and others eager to reap the rewards or to adapt to the new situation.
The U.S.-Russian relationship has always been a complicated and multifaceted one. But, yesterday's U.N. vote, the third veto from the Russia Federation on the issue of Syria alone, is proof that the Obama strategy has failed.
The rebels' ability to strike at the heart of the Syrian regime's feared security apparatus, to battle its troops in Damascus and take control of border crossings, in a coordinated, well-planned and executed campaign, shows that Assad is doomed.
The failure to renew the diplomatic mission being led by Kofi Annan (with its associated group of observers) is no great loss. The peace plan under which Annan was operating had and has no chance of being accepted.
It is extremely difficult to decipher who has taken up arms against each other inside the war-torn nation. But after several months of assessing the situation, a murky, violent and terrifying picture is emerging of who is engaged in the fighting for and against the Assad regime.
The suicide attack Wednesday that killed Syria's defense minister and other top military officials, could not have been better timed to shake Russia's leaders out of their go-slow complacency toward forcing an end to the fighting there.
It's not just numbers killed which creates a psychological and moral conundrum, but the manner of the killing in many cases which appears utterly baffling, given these atrocities are being committed by what would be considered large numbers of otherwise psychologically normal individuals. Yet they go on to perform gross 'overkill'.
The trouble with the civil war distinction is its rhetorical baggage: Does a civil war label prompt action by outsiders or inaction?
How about the dangers of being shot down on the way out, or of being viewed as an attacking aircraft by Jordanian air defenses and getting shot down upon entering Jordanian airspace?
The outcry of the Syrian people has been heard time and time again, but the international community remains paralyzed, engaged in wishful thinking that somehow the Assad regime will heed their call.
Given the degree of hostility between Israel and Syria, it might seem odd that for much of the past year, Israel's leaders have been fairly quiet about the uprising taking place within its northern neighbour.
It has been in the making, as consistently predicted in this blog, and now it is finally happening. The Sunni uprising against the Alawite-dominated regime of Bashar Assad is fast approaching the point of decision.
This is a phase that requires wisdom and maturity on the part of all players in the entire Arab region, not just in Syria, Libya or Egypt, where the challenge is clearer than it is in other parts of the Arab region.
This September, as students return to the Morningside Heights campus, among them will be a 22-year-old woman linked closely to the atrocities of an infamous world leader: Syrian dictator Bashar al Assad.