Syria

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Black columns of smoke rise from heavy shelling in the Jobar neighborhood, east of Damascus, Syria, Sunday, Aug. 25, 2013. Syria reached an agreement with the United Nations on Sunday to allow a U.N. team of experts to visit the site of alleged chemical weapons attacks last week outside Damascus, state media said. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

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** FILE ** In this Sunday, Aug. 4, 2013, file photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrian President Bashar Assad delivers a speech at an Iftar dinner with political and religious figures in Damascus, Syria. (AP Photo/SANA, File)

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Syrian civilians receive treatment after an alleged poisonous gas attack fired by regime forces, according to activists in Arbeen, Syria, near Damascus, on Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2013, in this citizen journalism image provided by the Local Committee of Arbeen and authenticated on its contents and other AP reporting. (AP Photo/Local Committee of Arbeen)

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In this image made from video, U.N. vehicles leave the entry area of a hotel after U.N. weapon inspectors get off their vehicles upon their arrival in Damascus, Syria, on Aug. 18, 2013. A team of U.N. weapons inspectors arrived in Damascus on Sunday for a long-delayed mission to investigate the alleged use of chemical arms in Syria's civil war. (Associated Press)

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** FILE ** In this Sunday, Aug. 4, 2013, photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrian President Bashar Assad delivers a speech at an Iftar dinner with political and religious figures in Damascus, Syria. (AP Photo/SANA)

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This image posted on the Syrian presidency’s official Facebook page on Thursday, Aug. 1, 2013, purports to show Syrian President Bashar Assad talking with soldiers in Darya, Syria, on his first known public trip outside Damascus, the capital, since March 2012. (Associated Press)