Members of the Free Syrian Army pose with their weapons and a snowman at the Jouret al Shayah area in Homs January 10, 2013. REUTERS/Yazan Homsy
PHOTOS: Snowfall in the Middle East
Two members of the Free Syrian Army hold their weapons as they take defense positions in a house in El Moalimin neighborhood in Homs July 14, 2012.
The Red Cross now views fighting in Syria as an internal armed conflict - a civil war in layman’s terms - crossing a threshold experts say can help lay the ground for future prosecutions for war crimes.
The independent humanitarian agency had previously classed the violence in Syria as localised civil wars between government forces and armed opposition groups in three flashpoints - Homs, Hama and Idlib. Picture taken July 14, 2012. REUTERS/Yazen Homsy
Syrian soldiers, who have defected to join the Free Syrian Army, hold up their rifles as they secure a street in Saqba, in Damascus suburbs, January 27, 2012. REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah
Syrian rebels walk in an alley in Idlib, Syria, Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2012. Activists say Syrian troops have continued shelling residential neighborhoods in the central city of Homs for the fifth straight day, killing scores of people. (AP Photo)
Syrian rebel fighters are seen during an exchange of fire with army troops, unseen, in Idlib, Syria, Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2012. The European Union will impose harsher sanctions on Syria, a senior EU official said Wednesday, as Russia tried to broker talks between the vice president and the opposition to calm violence. Activists reported at least 50 killed in the regime’s siege of the restive city of Homs. (AP Photo)
A Syrian rebel takes cover during an exchange of fire with army troops, unseen, in Idlib, Syria, Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2012. The European Union will impose harsher sanctions on Syria, a senior EU official said Wednesday, as Russia tried to broker talks between the vice president and the opposition to calm violence. Activists reported at least 50 killed in the regime’s siege of the restive city of Homs. (AP Photo)
Syrian soldiers who defected to join the Free Syrian Army (FSA) pose for a photograph at an FSA base outside the town of Qusair January 8, 2012. Picture taken January 8, 2012. REUTERS/Stringer
Syrian soldiers who have defected to join the Free Syrian Army, sit in a car as they hold their rifles as they secure the area during a funeral of a protester Mazen abou Dhahab in Saqba, January 27, 2012. REUTERS/ Ahmed Jadallah
A Syrian soldier displays weapons seized from what officials say were gunmen, during the tour of Arab monitors in Damascus countryside Harasta January 26, 2012. Syrian authorities are holding ceasefire talks with rebels who have seized some areas near Damascus, a local official said on Thursday, in a sign that a 10-month-old revolt against President Bashar al-Assad has crept close to the capital. REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah
Syrian soldiers, who have defected to join the Free Syrian Army, hold up their rifles as they secure a street in Saqba, in Damascus suburbs, in this January 27, 2012 file photo. People have described Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to Reuters as a head of state fully abreast of events on the ground - not the mere puppet of hardliners that some have portrayed - “relaxed and phlegmatic”, and determined to see off the challenge, offering some reforms, strictly on his own terms. While few rate his long-term prospects highly, all is not lost, at least for now. Assad’s troops swiftly drove back the more lightly armed rebels from the outskirts of Damascus and many foresee a long struggle yet for a country, at the heart of the Middle East, that is trapped in a “balance of weakness”. Picture taken January 27, 2012. REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah/Files
