DAY 622 - NOVEMBER 22, 2012
American journalist James Foley is just the latest in a string of non-combatant kidnappings, including Austin Tice and Mohamed Al Saeed, that have occurred in Syria within the last six months. Both rebel and regime soldiers are guilty of the abductions. The Syrian opposition has cut off many supply routes for government forces. Furthermore, the FSA has started receiving anti-aircraft weapons from anonymous sources. Though unchecked, many think Qatar is supplying the rebels with the heavy weapons. In addition Syrian opposition leaders meet in Doha to unite different anti-government militias under a moderate cleric, Mouaz Al Khatib, from Damascus. The violence in Syria is beginning to spill into Lebanon, Turkey, and Jordan as random spats of gunfire proliferate many of the border crossings surrounding the conflicted nation.
The young rebel from Aleppo has finally passed away in your cell, causing a putrid smell to cling to the walls of the prison as his bowels are released and the flies and maggots seemingly appear from nowhere. When Harout enters the cell you instinctively pull back, your terror reflexes uncontrollable at this point. Meanwhile the corpse does little to your torturer's cursed retinas. He tells you that you are taking a walk with him and he puts the black hood over your head and the plastic zip around your wrists and guides you to an elevator somewhere in the darkness. The sound of the buttons and the movement beneath your feet is a sensation you've forgotten in the last six months underground. When the elevator stops, Harout whispers into the hood that you're leaving this place. You are so shocked you don't even know what to say, but while you stumble for your next words Harout interjects. He tells you not to get your hopes up because they aren't just letting you go. He tells you that a trade is being made...