Yes, We were always safe, revised

Syria in the news, as usual, but today's story begins with "Several children killed in latest Syrian attacks." That number is actually 32 children and 60 adults. This is a civil war, and clearly a war upon civilians. These people were shot in the streets of their own town, some in their own homes. And it wasn't only gunfire.
Government forces engaged in the most inhuman behavior, “including stabbing and ax attacks on women and children.”

I do not pretend to understand the minds of those people, the ones who continue to kill their own, and their own children. I cannot understand it. Killing. Continued killing, especially in the brutal manner of this, yesterday's, attack. I do not pretend to understand all that divides the Syrian people. But recently, it's politics, a desire for freedom, a wish for change. I don't know where religion comes into the picture, if it does at this time.

This I know. The Syrian government's response to the Arab Spring protest of 2011 was so brutal that Syria was ejected from the Arab League. Nothing has stopped that brutality.

I have seen pictures of President Bashar al-Assad, and he appears "civilized," almost dignified. But clearly he is not. He continues this bloody slaughter of Syrians, his people.

Here are two pictures of Syria, taken from the Golan Heights, which Israel has occupied since the 6-Day War in 1967 but which Syria still claims.

Syria, beyond the body of water. How calm it looks

You're looking at Syria, beyond the cultivated area, and beyond the second fence. Israel up to the first fence. Neutral zone between the two fences.

Of course, we could go no closer. But Syria's war is not, at this time, against Israel. It is, I must say, against itself.

To change the subject:
From this spot on the Golan Heights we saw the road to Damascus, which Paul traveled on the day that changed his life forever.