DAY 236 - NOVEMBER 12, 2011
Reports have begun to surface about Syrian President Bashar Al Assad's security forces arresting doctors and pharmacists who have been supplying medical treatment to protesters at state hospitals. The city of Homs is pummelled with tank fire and heavy artillery, causing the most destruction in one location to date. As a punishment for repeated human rights violations, Syria is suspended from the Arab League.
You continue to file stories in and around Beirut until Nazir gives you the green light. He tells you the best method of approach would be to follow the buses that go into Damascus. He tells you that he knows the border guards and that he will be able to bribe your car past the checkpoint. You are entrusting him with a lot of responsibility over your life, but at the same time the Bekaa Valley is run on mafias. For him, a Sunni outsider, to not only survive but to thrive in the region, he must be doing something right. When you get to Damascus you have a plan to link up with Michael, who you believe has safely landed on the other side. It seems like a well drawn out operation. However, there are still rumors that Hezbollah troops are crossing into Syria in droves. Lebanon's militant incumbent party is propping up Assad's regime as the fighting seems to regularly intensify.