"A year ago, the fuse of hatred was lit; it did not sputter, but exploded in a spiral of violence," he said in an open letter to Catholics in the region.

"It seems that few people care about what is most needed and what is most desired: dialogue and peace," he wrote. "Violence never brings peace. History proves this, yet years and years of conflict seem to have taught us nothing."

Francis, who has also made Monday a day of fasting and prayers for peace for Catholics globally, has spoken more openly in recent weeks about the Hamas-Israel conflict and has become more vocal in his criticism of Israel's military campaign.

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I saw similar horrors while working in a northern Syrian field hospital under airstrikes in August. I operated on children who had the bone fragments of obliterated bystanders embedded in their skin. Children shot by snipers were pronounced dead in front of grieving parents. Civilians with bellies torn open from shelling held their intestines in their hands while pleading for help. Some lucky enough to have survived shrapnel wounds succumbed to gangrene and required amputations.

Only so much is possible in a besieged hospital where cellphones illuminate underground operating rooms when the power goes out. In Syria, the front lines are everywhere and many who are armed do not respect medical neutrality. Like many makeshift hospitals, the one I worked at does not display Red Crescent emblems to help prevent its discovery and destruction.

As international attention to Syria wanes, all of these horrors are still happening. Continue reading.

Samer Attar is a United States-based assistant professor of orthopaedic surgery who recently carried out volunteer work in Syria.

Source: Dominion Post / Fairfax NZ News

Image: Narciso Contreras, showing Dar Al-Shifa hospital which was bombed by a plane

In receiving the Syrian ambassador's credentials, Pope Benedict took the opportunity of saying the Holy See urges the troubled Syrian government to respect Syrian citizens' desire for reform, and accept guidance from the international community.

"The events of the past months in some nearby Mediterranean countries, Syria among them, demonstrate the desire for a better future in the areas of political, economic, and social life," the Pope noted in a letter that he gave to Syrian ambassador Hussan Edin Aala on June 9.

"It is greatly desirable that this evolution not take place in a climate of intolerance, discrimination, or conflict and, still less, of violence," the Pope wrote, "but rather in a climate of absolute respect for the truth, for co-existence, for the legitimate rights of the person and the collective, and of reconciliation."

"These are the principles that should guide the authorities, keeping always in mind the aspiration of civil society and international directives."

The US too warned against Syria's "outrageous use of violence" against anti-government protesters, saying it is going down a "dangerous path".

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon described the use of military force as "unacceptable."

A spokesman for Mr Ban said he was "keen to speak to" Syria's president, however he has been unavailable.

On Friday, anti-government activists said about 15 people had died in the northern province of Idlib.

Human rights groups say more than 1,300 people have died in the crackdown, mostly unarmed civilians. The government denies this and says about 500 security forces' personnel have died.

More than 3,000 Syrians - mostly women and children - have crossed the border into Turkey to escape the violence, many of them from Jisr al-Shughour. An unknown number of people are thought to have fled to other locations within Syria.

Sources

• BBC
• CNA
• Image: Save Syria Now