Syria

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Fahd Jassem al-Freij (left), Syria's new defense minister, is sworn in before Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus, Syria, on Thursday, July 19, 2012. (AP Photo/SANA)

Mark Lyall Grant (left), British ambassador to the United Nations, and U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice of the United States confer at the United Nations on Thursday, July 19, 2012, during a U.N. Security Council meeting on Syria. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

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In this citizen journalist image, smoke billows over Damascus, Syria, on July 18, 2012, after a bomb ripped through a high-level security meeting. Three top regime officials, including President Bashar Assad's brother-in-law, were killed in the blast. (Associated Press)

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In this citizen journalist image, smoke billows July 18, 2012, over Damascus, Syria, after a bomb ripped through a high-level security meeting and killed three top regime officials, including President Bashar Assad's brother-in-law. (Associated Press)

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In this image made from amateur video released by the Shaam News Network and accessed July 18, 2012, Syrians celebrate after hearing about the suicide attack that hit the National Security building in Idlib, Syria. The bomb ripped through a high-level security meeting, killing the defense minister as well as President Bashar Assad's brother-in-law. (Associated Press/Shaam News Network via AP video)

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Syrian President Bashar Assad (left) stands next to Gen. Dawoud Rajha (right), Syria's defense minister, during a ceremony to mark the 38th anniversary of the October 1973 Arab-Israeli war, in Damascus, Syria, on Thursday, Oct. 6, 2011. (AP Photo/SANA)

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Russian President Vladimir Putin (right) and Kofi Annan, the U.N. envoy for the Syrian crisis, conferred in Moscow on Tuesday on efforts to end the fighting in Syria. (Associated Press)

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This image made from amateur video released by the Ugarit News and accessed on Sunday, July 15, 2012, purports to show Free Syrian Army soldiers during clashes with Syrian government forces in Damascus, Syria. (AP Photo/Ugarit News via AP video)