Syria

APTOPIX Mideast Syria_Lea.jpg

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)

Mideast Syria_Star(2).jpg

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)

Mideast Syria_Live(1).jpg

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)

Mideast Syria_Live.jpg

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)

Mideast Syria_Lea.jpg

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)