DAY 500 - JULY 28, 2012
The UN declares the Syrian conflict "a full-scale civil war" and suspends its monitoring mission because of attacks against its general inspectors. The decision by the United Nations, coupled with the increased instability in the region, goads Russia to station two warships near its base in Tartous, Syria. Additionally, Russian and China, for a third time, veto a UN resolution plan. Syria's ambassadors to Iraq and Cyprus both defect and the New York Times reports that Assad has moved a stockpile of chemical weapons, of which he has one of the largest in the world, out of storage. There is a fear within the international community that the Syrian government may use the weapons in an act of desperation.
You think about Aasfa and the innocent mother who that were killed over nothing. Now all of their children have been orphaned. They, the children, are out there alone somewhere. You are deeply affected by this. As a result you try starving yourself to death. You stop eating all together for two weeks but you can't go through with it. There is still enough optimism in your heart to hang on to life. One of the American journalists named Jeremy lies in your cell, nursing the cigarette burns and electrical scars on his body. Recently, loud noises in the Tadmor and Palmyra area have been keeping you awake. A new inmate named Fatma, whose husband is a scientist working for the rebels, tells you that Assad keeps a lot of his biological warfare agents buried deep under Palmyra and the sounds you are hearing are from chemical weapons being unearthed and transported. She tells you that there might even be some buried underneath this cell right now. Either way, she says that Assad is not beyond using Sarin gas. He has already slaughtered civilians she says slowly, chemical weapons can do that too—only faster.