Updated at 10:50 a.m. ET: Syrian doctors tortured patients brought into a military hospital in the battered city of Homs, according to a hospital employee who filmed the apparent evidence. The video was broadcast by Britain's Channel 4 News Monday.
Later on Tuesday, the United Nations said it had similar footage.
The very graphic video, which the news channel said was filmed covertly, showed severely wounded men blindfolded and chained to hospital beds. A rubber whip and an electrical cable sit on a table in one room.
"I have seen detainees being tortured by electrocution, whipping, beating with batons, and by breaking their legs," the employee told a French photojournalist who reportedly smuggled the video outside of Syria, according to Channel 4.
The authenticity of the film could not be independently verified.
McCain calls for US-led airstrikes on Assad forces
The hospital employee said he tried to stop "the shameful things" that were happening but was called a traitor.
He said the torture was carried out by civilian and military surgeons and other medical staff including nurses. It reportedly took place in the ambulance section, the prison ward, the X-ray department and the intensive care unit. The footage was filmed over the past three months, Channel 4 said.
U.S. and European governments have been pleading for Russia to rethink his anti-interventionist stance on Syria, in what appeared to be an increasingly desperate effort for consensus among world powers to stop a crackdown that has killed more than 7,500 people.
Saudi Arabia: Syrians right to fight Assad regime

Hussein Malla / AP
Hundreds of Syrians, like this child and her family, have fled besieged areas in and around Homs for Lebanon or the Lebanon-Syria border.
Hundreds fled to neighboring Lebanon on Monday fearing they'd be massacred in their homes.
Calls for action to protect civilians have grown louder as the Alawite-led security apparatus cracked down on protests and an uprising that has its roots in the majority Sunni community and which has raised the prospect of civil war in Syria.
'Pictures are truly shocking'
A U.N. commission of inquiry last November documented cases of injured people taken to military hospitals where they were beaten and tortured during interrogation.
Video: Senor: US could be arming, training forces inside Syria
"The High Commissioner was sent this footage by Channel 4 yesterday. In fact we have some similar footage," U.N. human rights spokesman Rupert Colville said on Tuesday.
"It may even be the same footage which was sent to the commission of inquiry on Syria," Colville, a spokesman for U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, said at a news briefing. "The pictures are truly shocking."
A U.N. inquiry documented evidence that sections of Homs military hospital and Latakia state hospital were "transformed into torture centers actually within the hospitals," he said.
Syrian activist: 'You hear the sounds of torture all the time'
Torture has been documented in Syria for 40 years, "usually carried out under the cloak of permanent security legislation," Colville said, adding: "The brutality of the country's security forces is notorious."
"Methods of torture, most of which are known to have been used in Syria over many years, not just in the past year, include severe beatings, electric shocks, suspension for long periods by the limbs, psychological torture and routine humiliation," he added.
More from msnbc.com and NBC News:
- More than 13,000 flee east Australia floods
- McCain calls for US-led airstrikes on Assad forces
- Dozens arrested at anti-Putin protests
- Bloodhounds used to sniff out people killing elephants for ivory
- Dozens of cops slain at checkpoints in Iraq
Follow us on Twitter: @msnbc_world
Msnbc.com staff and Reuters contributed to this report.


Unfortunately, this is another of far too many places in the world where the santicity and value of life is simply not part of the culture and belief. Additionally, what we likely do not know, is how far away the Syrian Military is to forcing these acts onto hospital personnel.
It is a deplorable situation, that the UN should shoulder and address. However, the UN has no teeth and the political climate and reality of the UN just simply does not warrant dealing with basic human rights.
It's their own damn fault. When God asks you what country, race or economic class you wish to be born into, why pick a place like syria??
What's the big fuss in Syria anyway ?
Assad is just doing at home what Eric Holder said yesterday the U.S. is allowed to do with dissenters abroad.
nothing new here;
Well said.
In the words of Dubya and most Republicans:
In the words of lefty demsocs, with nothjng to contribute to conversation, It's "Bush did it"
And don't forget, "you're a racist"
Why would anyone care what a country which is known to use torture (like the US, Iran or China) has to say on this issue?
Unless we're able to prosecute our own use of torture, we have no credibility at all on this issue. The Republicans in particular have zero moral standing here.
You lefty demsocs, need some new material, close the Lefty Manifesto, you're boring.
Most adults have outgrown the middle school habit of name-calling. Why haven't you?
Just muslims practicing islam. No jew to blame for miles around.
So what else is new
I have no doubt that people are being tortured by those accused in the article. It may be 2012, but there are still barbarians, or maybe a better word would be sub-humans living and trying to force their will on everyone else.
Russia and China, by vetoeing action against the Assad regime shows what they are. I refer only to those in power who commit or allow torture on innocent people who want to be free of tyranny.
just a little pen point carpet bombing!
Its really interesting,all this moral outrage I read here. Talk about "the pot calling the kettle black".
First of all we don't know if the film is fake or doctored. I wonder about how,just some "hospital employee" was able to film easily things done by the secret police. If your under the control of the secret police,and you walk around filming,don't you think they would notice that .Just try gong to a police station in America and pull your camera out and start filming. And see how well that works out for you. Now,some would say,"oh,he used a small secret camera". Well then,where would a common hospital employee get something like that.Its not that easy to find or cheap even here. I'd think it would be much harder to get over there. And then,it just so happens he's able to slip it out of the country. All the while daily,we in the West,in tandem with the Sunni Arab League are drumming the drums to attack Syria.And we know that reporting things like this,true or not,helps them along.I remember all the "evidence" of Iraqi barbarity in Kuwait that started our involvement there.The " babies thrown out of the hospitals" etc,etc. Then when it was over it comes out that those stories were fake.Made up by the Kuwaitis and Saudis to force the American people into wanting to get involved.The same Kuwaiti and Saudis that are pushing for our involvement now.It worked once,maybe they figure it will work again.
Second of all,we've known since,"like forever",that the Syrians torture prisoners. Infact, its well documented that as a policy under Bush's War on Terror. The CIA used to ship some of our Al Queda and other radical Muslim prisoners over to Syria to be tortured under the Rendition program.Since the Syrians hated them as well,we thought it would get us what we wanted,without us having to take the blame. Switzerland,Sweden,or other peace loving societies like those.They have a right to be horrified about that type of thing. But we,the British,French,and the Arab Gulf dictatorships.Any outrage from them is pure hypocrisy. Most of our third world dictatorship allies do the same thing,or worse. All the while we turn a blind eye to it. An easy example is the new Libyan government we helped put in power. Just a couple of weeks ago there was a story on how a foreign doctors group working in Libya pulled out because they were having to treat tortured prisoners,just so they could then be re-tortured. All these things are known around the world,its not a secret.
Third,and final point on the torture issue. The very things that we are complaining about here. Were done routinely by us in Iraq and Afghanistan. Do we have memories so short as to forget about the stories and pictures from Abu Ghraib and others in Iraq ,and the reports from Bagram in Afghanistan. Just in case lets review them.
"Beginning in 2004, human rights violations in the form of physical, psychological, and sexual abuse, including torture, reports of rape, sodomy, and homicide of prisoners held in the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq (also known as Baghdad Correctional Facility) came to public attention. These acts were committed by military police personnel of the United States Army together with additional US governmental agencies. "
"The prisoner Manadel al-Jamadi died in Abu Ghraib prison after being interrogated and tortured by a CIA officer and a private contractor. The torture included physical violence and strappado hanging, whereby the victim is hung from the wrists with the hands tied behind the back. His death has been labeled a homicide by the US military, but neither of the two men who caused his death have been charged. The private contractor was granted qualified immunity."
"Major General Antonio Taguba has stated that there is photographic evidence of rape being carried out at Abu Ghraib. An Abu Ghraib detainee told investigators he heard an Iraqi teenage boy screaming and saw an Army translator having sex with him while a female soldier took pictures."
"Another photo shows an American soldier apparently raping a female prisoner. Other photos show sexual assaults on prisoners with objects including a truncheon, wire and a phosphorescent tube, and a female prisoner having her clothing forcibly removed to expose her breasts. Taguba has supported President Obama's decision not to release the photos, stating, "These pictures show torture, abuse, rape and every indecency."
"In other alleged cases, female inmates were said to be raped by soldiers.In one reported case, senior US officials admitted rape had taken place at Abu Ghraib."
"Former Marine Lt. Col. Bill Cowan was also interviewed, stating: "We went into Iraq to stop things like this from happening, and indeed, here they are happening under our tutelage."
"In the diary are listed detailed, dated entries that chronicle abuse and names, for example,
and, "MI (Military Intelligence) has been present and witnessed such activity. MI has encouraged and told us great job [and] that they were now getting positive results and information."
The New York Times, in a report on January 12, 2005, reported testimony suggesting that the following events had taken place at Abu Ghraib:
"In her video diary, a prison guard said that prisoners were shot for minor misbehavior, and claimed to have had venomous snakes bite prisoners, sometimes resulting in their deaths."
"One detainee claimed he was sodomized. The Taguba Report found the claim ("Sodomizing a detainee with a chemical light and perhaps a broom stick") to be credible."
"In February 2006, previously unreleased photos and videos were broadcast by SBS, an Australian television network, on its Dateline program. According to initial reports, the Bush administration is attempting to prevent release of the images in the US, arguing that their publication could provoke antagonism towards them. According to BBC World News, the photographs were probably taken around the same time as the previously released photographs, and include some of the same prisoners and convicted soldiers from the earlier images. These newly released photographs depict prisoners crawling on the floor naked, being forced to perform sexual acts, and being covered in feces. Some images also show homicide and corpses, some shot in the head and some with slit throats.BBC World News stated that one of the prisoners, who was reportedly mentally unstable, was considered by prison guards as a 'pet' for torture."
"In September 2010 Amnesty International warned in a report titled New Order, Same Abuses; Unlawful Detentions and Torture in Iraq that up to 30,000 prisoners, including many veterans of the US detention system, remain detained without rights in Iraq and are frequently tortured or abused. Furthermore, it describes a detention system that has not evolved since Saddam Hussein's regime, in which human rights abuses were endemic with arbitrary arrests and secret detention common and a lack of accountability throughout the security forces. Amnesty's Middle East and North Africa director, Malcolm Smart went on to say that "Iraq's security forces have been responsible for systematically violating detainees' rights and they have been permitted. US authorities, whose own record on detainees' rights has been so poor, have now handed over thousands of people detained by US forces to face this catalog of illegality, violence and abuse, abdicating any responsibility for their human rights."
"On October 22, 2010 nearly 400,000 secret United States army field reports and war logs, detailing torture, summary executions and war crimes, were passed on to the British paper, the Guardian and several other international media organizations through the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks. Among others, the logs detail how US authorities failed to investigate hundreds of reports of abuse, torture, rape and even murder by Iraqi police and soldiers, whose conduct appears to be systematic and normally unpunished and that US troops abused prisoners for years even after the Abu Ghraib scandal."
"Habibullah died on December 4, 2002. Several U.S. soldiers hit the chained man with so-called "peroneal strikes," or severe blows to the side of the leg above the knee. This incapacitates the leg by hitting the common peritoneal nerve."
"Dilawar, who died on December 10, 2002, was a 22-year-old Afghan taxi driver and farmer who weighed 122 pounds and was described by his interpreters as neither violent nor aggressive.
When beaten, he repeatedly cried "Allah!" The outcry appears to have amused U.S. military personnel, as the act of striking him in order to provoke a scream of "Allah!" eventually "became a kind of running joke," according to one of the MP's. "People kept showing up to give this detainee a common peritoneal strike just to hear him scream out 'Allah,'" he said. "It went on over a 24-hour period, and I would think that it was over 100 strikes."
"Dr. Aafia Siddiqui...She mysteriously disappeared in 2003 with her three children, and was allegedly detained for five years at Bagram; she was the only female prisoner. She was known to the male detainees as "Prisoner 650" and has been dubbed the "Mata Hari of al-Qaida" or the "Grey Lady of Bagram" by the media. In addition to former detainees of Bagram, Yvonne Ridley maintains that Siddiqui is the "Grey Lady of Bagram" – a ghostly female detainee, who kept prisoners awake "with her haunting sobs and piercing screams". In 2005 male prisoners were so agitated by her plight, Yvonne said, that they went on hunger strike for six days. Siddiqui's family maintains that she has been abused. Her oldest son, who was seven years old when they disappeared, was detained in Afghanistan until 2008, and the whereabouts of her remaining two children are still unknown."
The old saying,"people who live in glasses houses shouldn't cast stones" is very true for we and our allies.
But... but... it's okay if America does it, right? Right??
Uncle Bob 512
I don't think you are a United States citizen. I think you, and a couple of others here such as "Trustverify" are propaganda agents working for Iran, or Hezbollah.
You both type posts all day, daily.
Every article you write on is anti-semetic, anti-American, and pro Islam with extreme passion. Pro Sunni as well I would like to add.
Call it intuition, but I have to call a spade a spade. Anyone out there think Iran would attempt this? The ability to sway American opinion for little to no cost.
UncleBob-sounds American as Pecan Pie. My first hint.
Hey readers and posters, watch out for these guys and spread the word.
Newsvine; any way to look into these guys? I could be wrong, but I doubt it very much.
The concept of "nation building" is a flawed concept. Too many people with direct connections to the White house and US government make far too much money. These people are in a civil war and to be free, they must summon the will and drive to take out their own government. Look to Iraq and Afghanistan to see the futility of "nation building". You can't FORCE a people to be free, they have to fight for and earn it for themselves. This is not our fight.
You are aware, of course, that some European nations helped the USA to win its independence from Great Britain?
Devils advocate here Shandril. I believe you have many valid points. But, yes, but, the United States had minimal help from France.
They had interests that were being threatened as they were fighting the British as well for territory; They were losing ground, and had several bad defeats in the Americas such as in Mexico, and in Canada.
Sometimes a helping had can lead to a great friendship though. Sometimes our hand gets bitten right off as well.
And once again, we see that the UN is a useless non-organization, time to throw it onto the trash pile of history, same as the League of Nations. They all start out as a good idea, then when you give ANY country veto powers, US, China, Russia, France - they are no longer effective. Break it up, quit the farce.
As for Syria, Assad needs to go, but what will replace him? A muslim dictatorship, put the women back in bags, start persecuting people for which branch of islam you follow - this is an improvement? Be careful what you ask for, you might get it.
Has anybody looked at the National Defense Authorization Act?? Obama is now making it okay for american citizens to be arrested and held INDEFINITELY without trial, without charges, without our constitutional rights. Take a look ar Syria. That is the kind of government we are headed for. POTUS signed this into law in January. Now that he has the power to come into your homes, with or without your permission or attendance, do anything they want and hold you forever without the benefit of a speedy trial, knowing what you are being held for and taking everything you own. Once he gets Arms Trade Treaty done through the UN, Obama will make it illegal for american citizens to arm themselves. The only citizens with arms will be the criminals. The best part is that is does not have to be approved through our representatives in Washington. Obama is going to take this country to Socialism, his brand of socialism, and Americans will have the only means of resisting this kind of terrine taken from them. Syria is a terrible situation. The only thing giving those opposed to Assad is their own weapons. Without that, nobody would even know what is going on. As it stands today, armed Americans make you the largest army in the world. In order for the government to take away our freedoms, they absolutely have to take away our weapons. Obama has already take away our freedom from our right to be charged and tried for a crime. We are no longer innocent until proven guilty. He has to take away our right to defend our families, religion and our property. He has to take away our arms to accomplish the rest.
Should we get involved in Syria, if we do they will hate us all the more once American blood is spilt on their behalf. We will OWE them a completely new infrastructure. New schools, new hospitals, new power scourses, new homes, etc. If we stay and rebuild, they'll kill our people that are trying to help them. If we leave, they will jahad against the crusader for bringing great destruction on the people of Syria. There is no good answer. There is no good solution. What we really need is to get our house in order.
You are delusional if you think that your small arms can withstand modern war machinery. In case you haven't noticed, the Syrian people are armed with AK-47s and other firearms. Is it doing them any good? I hate to burst your bubble, cowboy, but your grand-daddy's shotgun is no match for a 200,000-pound tank.
I clicked you both up. Both of you are making valid points.
I have said for a long time now that we should air-drop thousands of RPG's scattered individually and with ammo for them, and in afflicted towns, and at night. Grenades, more AK-47's and their ammo as well.
Some will fall into the wrong hands, many will fall into the right ones. The U.N. , the Arab League, or the United States could do this at minimal cost, and at zero human cost to ourselves.
Part of me says Muslims killing Muslims, what's the problem? Another part of me is more human, and says someone should do something.
Forget the politics for a moment. Think about yourself being tortured. People with angry faces and pure evil worst than your worst nightmare breaking your bones, smashing your teeth, burning your skin in tender places with cigarettes, and there is no one even on their way to help you because no one cares.
These are fathers, brothers, sisters and mothers being tortured by professional monsters.
It needs to stop !
too bad, so sad. we're still not coming.
Clebro2 - I have seen people getting beaten up and intervened many times in my life. I guess you and I are very different.
The true judge of civilization is how we take care of those who are unable to take care of themselves.
To turn a blind eye is uncivilized.
I think Muslims suck, but at some point, even I have to put that aside and do the right thing. I saw a group of white guys attacking a black man once and stopped it. Now I was attacked by a group of black guys myself before that. Right is right, wrong is wrong. To do nothing is beyond wrong, it is sickening.
I don't believe in god, but if I did, I would think inactions such as this would count against you on your day of judgement.
the people whom did the torture should be be buried up to their heads exposed and have tanks run over their heads. i don't care if you are a doctor,nurse,religious man. the people over their are not too bright and are animals.
where is NATO at when they are needed? send nato out of the usa, so the building can be turned into a school,hospital etc.
SEMPER FI
DANNY P
RETIRED
"God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son , so that whoever would believe in Him, shall have everlasting life" John 3:16 God's loving sacrifice for mankind.
Jesus said, "I Am the way, the Truth and the Life, no one comes to the Father except through me" Jesus is "Love" "Our Hope" and "Salvation"
He will judge mankind for the deeds we have done openly and in secret. God's Judgement will fall upon the unrepentant.
Two commandments Christ gave us: "To Love God with all our hearts, soul, mind and strength, and to love our neighbors as ourselves". All the other Commandments are fulfilled in these. "LOVE"
His Servant.
Muslims have been torturing and killling one another for over 2000 years. How silly of us to think we're the ones who are going to change that one bit.
thats is a complete lie designed and made up from your creative imagination and boredom
what an idiot
Uncle Bob 512
No it's not. Truth is that man has always been like this. It is not just a Muslim thing.
Muslims just happen to be the worst purveyor of death, torture, violence and oppression in the the modern world, followed closely by China on their own people no less.
Shame on those who do these things.
akutmah
Sorry akutmah, but Perry-2713557 is correct. The truth is that man has probably done this since before history began.
Muslims just happen to be the greatest purveyor of torture, killings, and oppression in the post 2,000 AD modern world.
The United States is not without guilt, nor is most of the world. China has gort to be 2nd in line for the title, and on their own people no less.
Shame on those who do these things just for power and financial gain.
How is this any different from Bush's torture program, where he had medical doctors and psychologists supervising the torture and collecting data about it?
If the US wants to complain about this issue, maybe we should clean our own house first by enforcing our own laws about it.
lefty, did you notice that Bush has been gone for three years, why don't you talk about the pimple in the white house?
Bush has only been gone for three years? That means it's not to late to prosecute him for the crime of conspiracy to torture.
Maybe if we did that the US would have some credibility on this issue.
Of course these people are scum. How else can you describe people who thing nothing of killing a woman for adultery, or cutting off her nose, or throwing acid in her face. This isn't punishment. It's thrilling and satisfying behaviour to sadists who enjoy exercising control, and who get off on the agony and suffering of others. It's entertainment. This is what these people do and they've been doing it for over a 1,000 years now. And you think you're going to somehow civilize them? Hasn't it occurred to anyone by now that these guys that are killing young children from long distance with sniper rifles are actually enjoying what they do? Now think of how excited and thrilled they must be to not even have to make an effort to find victims because they're right there in a hospital and totally helpless. Those torturers must be drooling. Arabs have invented some of the most excruciating and painful tortures in existence and there's a reason. They love it.
when you say this are spreading lies to people everywhere. These are "corrupted" arabs not regular arabs who treat each other with kindness as any other person would (well except for you, Bush, and Obama).
How do we help the innocent people without getting involved?
And yes, there are innocent people. I've seen the reports about women and children being killed by snipers and tanks. Syrian troops aren't allowing Red Crescent to enter the hardest hit parts of Homs.
I haven't even really seen any charity groups offering help to the victims. Not that it would matter. The Syrian government wouldn't let them in anyways.
What exactly did they think was going to happen, when they started a civil war?
Any one that wants to help the rebels, feel free to go to Syria, use your time your money and your life, leave the rest of us alone.
I agree with you Mike S.-2262427, but there are charity groups such as SOS and Mercy that are using the money to smuggle medical supplies and food into syria.
Arizona is a state with a process that allows senators to be recalled.
If there are people in Arizona interested in recalling RINO John McCain, send me a private message, I will help with funding.
If Obam sends one member of our military to Syria, or spends our money there, urge your elected officials to start impeachment proceedings immediately.
And you were expecting sometnhing different from the Muslim World...............!
A World Obama said in his book that he would stand with...!
As Arab Spring has blossomed for a second season, we are learning from verifyable sources that it doesn't matter who is in charge in Libya, Iraq, Yemen, or Syria, they'll perform the same horrific deeds as the people they replaced. Human nature? More like inhuman nature.
So as supposedly sophisticated Americans and Europeans, you know, the master race, whom do we support. The friends of the tortured Syrians, should they eventually depose Bashar Assad, will seek retribution in kind. It's their culture. I don't want to see anyone suffer, but to people under the Q'uran's teachings human life is just so much camel dung.
Talk about being inhumane (spelled with an e at the end not inhuman) and cruel. Stop criticizing religion everyone is equal and thats not what the quraan says
I'm not going to get into the game of what other people think about what a poster her had to say.
We need to address what's going on in that country. It's criminal. It's almost genocidal. This guy, and the people he influences are just like Hitler. Of course it's all terrible, and offensive to any reasonable person.
BUT, even more unbelievable is that the world is sitting on it's hands on this. I'm sorry, but this is just plain wrong on a HUMAN level. I don't give a rats behind about their religion, their nationality, their sex or any of that. They are PEOPLE, and they are being terminated with malice and, for the world to drag it's proverbial feet on this, is equally criminal.
Go to Syria, use your time, your money and your life.
if the we means you have a mouse in your pocket go ahead, if the we means, the USA, sc#ew you.
I agree with you ctdannyd, they are humans just like us
p.s. Nancy1074 stop wasting ur time posting nonsense, inhumane comments
I have no problem with the war in Syria. I hope it continues. This keeps Hezbollah too busy to bother Israel. Let them fight it out for a few years. I'd rather see them kill each other than lob bombs into Israel. We should arm both sides of the war.
Where is the U.N. and what is their purpose....a whole lot of sitting around talking...absoluty no action! Appears like a united waste of time and money!
They have no purpose , bring all of our troops home from everywhere and give the UN 2 years to find a new home.
No Hippocratic oath there
I don't give a damn what country or religion you come from, all humans are nothing more then animals that can walk upright and think for themselves which is the key factor that makes us so bloody dangerous.
We only think we are a civilized society, but when it comes down to the basics, we are capable of becoming less then that of a street ditch rodent.
This includes myself since I am human as well, and ashamed to admit it as I watch these hideous beings fighting and always trying to find new ways in which to inflict the most suffering.
I only hope that one day we may do one of 2 things, and the first is total annihilation of our kind, while the other, the very same damn thing just a bit quicker.
We are a sick bunch of animals running around this planet like we know what we are doing.
We don't know jack sh-it.
We only think we understand things, but if we were ever truly set free.
We would be killing on a daily basis much more then that which is already being done on a daily basis.
We are all made up of the same breed that we yell foul.
I hope we do have a full scale nuclear war when Israel attacks Iran, not because of hate for anyone nation or people, but because we need to be taken out of this hell we have made for ourselves.
You don't approve of what I'm saying?
Who the hell are you, but another animal.
We have been in this killing mode since the birth of our kind.
There is no creator that would dare keep us alive for it would see it made a huge mistake and do away with it.
I wait in fear for the last big mushroom cloud that will finally rid this wonderful planet of the human disease.
The earth will survive this event, but we will be long gone, and forgotten.
I think that would be the single most humble deed our kind could ever offer this wonderful fine planet.
Oh, and yes my use of grammar sucks, but who the f----k cares after seeing and hearing all this human death?
We have more important things to worry about, like when our we going to finally push the final buttons?
War! War! War! that is all we understand anymore.
We make war to entertain ourselves. It's the ultimate sport!
Get the hell out and give up the fight. If atrocities like these are really being perpetrated, why would you expose yourself to the possibility of being injured in an apparent losing cause? Many, of course, are innocent pilgrims, caught up in a civil war. It's apparent that the Syrian government is not about to yield to the demands of these rebels, and for the safety and well being of the people, they should relent or leave. The U.S.A. has no reason to get involved yet again, in some other Middle Eastern country's civil war. We can supply much need rations and medical supplies when called upon to do so with the help of the international community.