Syria

Mideast Syria Christa_Lea.jpg

**FILE** Syrian Orthodox Christians attend Easter Mass in Damascus, Syria, on Sunday, April 15, 2012. Christians, who make up about 10 percent of Syria's population of more than 22 million, say they are particularly vulnerable to the violence that has been sweeping the country since March 2011. They are fearful that the country will become another Iraq, with Christians caught in the crossfire between rival Islamic groups. (AP Photo/Bassem Tellawi)

Mideast Syria_Lea.jpg

Syrian protesters carry a large revolution flag and chant slogans during a demonstration in Aleppo, Syria, where young people and children sang songs against President Bashar Assad and his regime on Friday, Dec. 21, 2012. (AP Photo/Virginie Nguyen Hoang)

UN Syria_Lea.jpg

Lakhdar Brahimi, joint special representative of the United Nations and the League of Arab States for Syria, answers media questions after consultations at U.N. headquarters on Thursday, Nov. 29, 2012. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

SYRIA.jpg

** File ** Syrian rebels attend a training session in Maaret Ikhwan, near Idlib, Syria, Dec 17, 2012. (Associated Press)

APTOPIX Mideast Syria_Lea.jpg

A boy runs for cover after a mortar shell hit a street and killed several people in the Bustan Al-Qasr district of Aleppo, Syria, on Monday, Dec. 17, 2012. (AP Photo/Narciso Contreras)

Mideast Syria_Reps.jpg

Syrians, who fled their homes with their families, gather around a fire to warm themselves at a makeshift vegetables store in a camp for the displaced in the village of Atmeh, Syria, Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2012. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)

20121218-165547-pic-838248139.jpg

Iran seems to understand it cannot hang its entire strategy on the survival of Syrian President Bashar Assad (wearing sash next to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad) and needs to build new alliances as contingencies. Iran has proposed a plan for elections in Syria for parliament and president. (Associated Press)

20121218-165547-pic-336811701.jpg

Participants at a conference on Syria in November await the start of a session at the Esteghlal Hotel in Tehran. (Associated Press)

SYRIA_7234_20121216

A mosaic of Hafez Al Assad is seen after being shot at by FSA soldiers after heavy clashes with government forces at a military academy besieged by the rebels in Tal Sheer, Syria, Sunday, Dec 16, 2012 (AP Photo / Manu Brabo)

SYRIA_7233_20121217

In this Thursday, Sept. 6, 2007 file photo, Syrian Vice President Farouk al-Sharaa talks to journalists during a joint press conference with Italian Premier Romano Prodi at Chigi palace, in Rome. Syria's longtime vice president said the army cannot defeat the rebels fighting to topple the regime, the first admission by a top government official that a victory by President Bashar Assad is unlikely. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, File)