It Is Long Past Time to Intervene in Syria

The grisly reports of the latest Syrian mass atrocity in Darayya reflect the all too horrific Syrian depravity pattern: First, laying siege to the city – denying its inhabitants food, water, electricity, medical assistance and communications of any kind; second, launching a sustained, intensified and indiscriminate air, tank and artillery bombardment; third, maintaining the siege by surrounding and entering the city with tanks, troop carriers, heavy weapons, soldiers and militias – threatening to “cleanse” the city – while not allowing any of its inhabitants to leave; finally, shabiha – government killer militias – going house-to-house, engaging in wanton executions, killing whole families, even burning bodies so as to cover up the extent of the horror, only to exacerbate it.