More than 100,000 people have now been killed since the beginning of the civil war in Syria in March 2011, according to the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group. The group, which is opposed to Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, said the death toll includes 18,000 rebel fighters and about 40,000 soldiers and pro-Assad militiamen. In recent weeks, the tide of fighting has turned in favor of Assad and his ally, Hizbullah gunmen from Lebanon who have joined the war on his behalf. The US this month decided to provide military aid to rebels fighting Assad while Russia has been a staunch ally of the regime. Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal accused the Syrian government of “genocide.”
Talks between the US and Russia for a Syrian peace conference have failed to reach an agreement after they could not agree on who would represent the Syrian opposition, and whether Assad’s ally Iran would attend.
The fighting has already sparked growing sectarian tensions in Lebanon, between Sunnis opposed to the Assad regime and Shi’ites from Hizbullah which support it. More than 1.5 million Syrians have fled the country for Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan, overwhelming those countries' humanitarian resources.