DAY 132 - JULY 31, 2011
The death toll in Syria has surpassed 2,000 and Assad's regime is thought to be holding 12,000 protesters without trial. The US, UK, Germany, Japan, and the Arab League have condemned the actions of the Syrian government. Hamza Al Khatib, a 13 year old demonstrator, is found dead in Daraa with visible signs of torture on his body. Human rights activists say 136 people have been killed today around Syria. It is the bloodiest day of the conflict to date.
You spend the next two months in Beirut trying to get a press visa for Syria, but it isn't happening. Syrian President Bashar Al Assad has significantly cracked down on journalists in an attempt to silence the bloodshed that is affecting his country of 22 million people. You have been filing stories about Libya through you contacts, Hassan being one of them, as well as on the growing alliance that is forming between Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Assad government. Periodically, you watch through social media as information black holes form in parts of Syria and then disappear. You wonder what is going on over there. You know there are other ways to get in, it will just take some creativity.