Human rights activists in Syria had put the death toll at around 45,000 according to the AP. In 2012 alone, according to the Syrian Network for Human Rights, 36,332 civilians were killed. The network specifically decried the Assad regimes record for killing civilians women and children:

The proportion of women and children to the total number of victims is 5.2 which is a conclusive  evidence that the Syrian government is deliberately targeting civilians as the internationally recognized ratio in the case of regular warfare is 2%. The Syrian government has killed more than double that percentage and in some months the percentage was more than three times that benchmark.

Last week the U.N.-Arab League envoy warned that 2013 could see over 100,000 more deaths in Syria if the civil war does not come to an end.

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Lakhdar Brahimi, the U.N.-Arab League envoy for the Syrian crisis, told reporters in Cairo that if the crisis continues Syria will not be divided into states "like what happened in Yugoslavia" but will face "Somalization, which means warlords, and the Syrian people will be persecuted by those who control their fate."

Syrian rebels are fighting a 21-month-old revolt against President Bashar Assad's regime. Activists say more than 40,000 people have been killed in the crisis, which began with pro-democracy protests but has morphed into a civil war.

Since starting his job in September, Brahimi has sought to advance an international plan, reached in Geneva six months ago, that calls for an open-ended cease-fire between rebels and government troops and the formation of a transitional government to run the country until elections can be held.

Over the past week Brahimi went to Damascus where he met Assad then flew to Moscow, one of Syria's closest international allies, where he discussed ways of ending the country's crisis.

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[Assad's forces] fired at least two Iranian-made, short-range ballistic missiles in what appears to be an effort to more precisely target Syrian rebels ... The Fateh A-110 missiles are more accurate than the older Scud variants that Syrian government forces have used in recent weeks.

Although these short-range missile attacks would not be able to reach the Turkish border, where NATO is sending U.S., German and Dutch Patriot missile batteries to protect, concern over ballistic missiles accounts for the beefing up of border defenses.

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Of course, it’s impossible to say with certainty which actions "Anonymous" actually pulled off, since its membership is ill-defined and anyone can claim association, not to mention that sometimes Anonymous hacktivists act alone or as part of a subgroup.  Even when Anonymous has put out one of its quintessential videos claiming responsibility for a hack or DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service—shutting down a website by flooding it with requests) attack, it hasn’t always turned out to be true.

Given that, below are Anonymous’ “Top 20” for 2012. With its widening arsenal and focus, one can only imagine what these Internet denizens have in store for 2013.

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“It is good to be here,” Engel said, broadcasting from Turkey. “I’m very happy that we’re able to do this live shot this morning.”

"We weren't physically beaten or tortured. It was a lot of psychological torture, threats of being killed," Engel continued. "They made us choose which one of us would be shot first and when we refused there were mock shootings. They pretended to shoot [NBC producer Ghazi Balkiz] several times."

Watch:

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Russia's explanation - that the official was characterizing the opinion of the Syrian opposition rather than stating Russia's position - did not jibe with the words of Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov, who was quoted by all three leading Russian news agencies as saying Thursday: "there is a trend for the government to progressively lose control over an increasing part of the territory," and adding that "an opposition victory can't be excluded."

The Foreign Ministry insisted in a statement Friday that Bogdanov was referring only to the claims of the "Syrian opposition and its foreign sponsors forecasting their quick victory over the regime in Damascus."

"In that context, Bogdanov again confirmed Russia's principled stance that a political settlement in Syria has no alternative," the ministry's spokesman, Alexander Lukashevich, said in the statement.

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Scuds are ballistic missiles first used by the Soviets during the Cold War. They are extremely deadly and can carry warheads.

The US warning comes amid growing concern Assad will resort to extreme measures — such as chemical weapons — in the face of a stubborn armed rebellion.

One US official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told NYT the "total is number is probably north of six now,” adding that the regime was targeting rebel-held areas.

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Shows, he said, the increasing desperation of Mr. Assad, since Scuds are primarily defensive weapons, being used by the government offensively against a counterinsurgency.

“Using Scuds to target tanks or military bases is one thing,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “Using them to target rebels hiding in playgrounds at schools is something else.”

On Tuesday anti-government activists in Damascus said "Regime forces are firing land missiles that are capable of carrying chemical warheads." This is significant because Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said that Syria's use of chemical weapons in a civil war would violate a "red line."

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They have launched a concerted campaign against military bases and the international airport, within an arc of opposition strongholds that now encircle the capital.

After recent rebel attacks on military checkpoints and bases along the 15-mile highway between southwest Damascus and the international airport prompted the airport’s two-day closure, authorities last week insisted Syria’s only international commercial airline hub had reopened.

But a GlobalPost reporter trying to drive on the highway toward the airport was stopped by Syrian soldiers who said the road was closed because they could not guarantee safe passage.

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He is reported to have sent his deputy foreign minister, Faisal al-Miqdad, on a trip to Cuba, Ecuador and Venezuela to sound out their respective leaders about the possibility of asylum.

All three countries have left-wing governments that are, to varying degrees and in different ways, antagonistic toward the US.

The most likely destination for the Syrian despot would appear to be Venezuela. Its President Hugo Chavez recently described Assad as his country’s “legitimate” leader.

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Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta followed up the reports Thursday, noting "we are very concerned that as the opposition advances particularly on Damascus that the regime might very well consider the use of chemical weapons."

Chemical weapons have for the U.S. been an expressed "red line" in regards to Syria. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stated previously that should Assad deploy chemical weapons against his people, "suffice to say we are certainly planning to take action.”

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Gunmen loyal to opposite sides in Syria's civil war battled Wednesday in the streets of the Lebanese city of Tripoli. The fighting has killed six people and wounded nearly 60 since Monday, security officials said.

The bloodshed is a sign of just how vulnerable Lebanon is to getting sucked into the Syrian crisis. The countries share a porous border and a complex web of political and sectarian ties that is easily enflamed.

Among the 17 Lebanese men who turned up dead in Syria last week were Bilal al-Ghoul and his childhood friend, Malek Haj Deeb, both 20. Malek's older brother, Jihad, said the two men sympathized with the rebellion, but they were not fighters.

"Malek used to see the videos of dead Syrians and cry," Jihad Haj Deeb told The Associated Press in Tripoli, as gunfire and explosions echoed near his home in the poor neighborhood of Mankoubeen. "He used to say, `May Bashar fall soon, God willing.'"

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The alliance's 28 members decided to limit use of Patriots solely for the defensive purpose of warding off the mortar rounds and shells from Syria that have already killed five Turks. But the announcement also appeared to be a message to Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime at a time when Washington and other governments fear Syria may be readying its chemical weapons stockpiles for possible use.

"We stand with Turkey in the spirit of strong solidarity," NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told reporters. "To anyone who would want to attack Turkey, we say, `Don't even think about it!'"

Fogh Rasmussen stressed that the deployment of the Patriot systems - which includes missiles, radar and other elements - wouldn't be a first step toward a no-fly zone over parts of Syria or any offensive operation against the Arab state.

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The state-run news agency SANA blamed the attack on terrorists, the term the regime uses for rebels who are fighting to topple the government. There were no immediate details on the ages of the students or their identities.

But the bloodshed comes as Syrian forces fired artillery at rebel targets in and around the capital and the international community grew increasingly alarmed about the regime's chemical weapons stocks.

Syrian rebels have made gains in recent weeks, overrunning military bases and bringing the fight to Damascus. Since Thursday, the capital has seen some of the heaviest fighting since July, killing scores of people, forcing international flights to turn back or cancel flights and prompting the United Nations to withdraw most of its international staff.

"The push to take Damascus is a real one, and intense pressure to take control of the city is part of a major strategic shift by the rebel commanders' strategy," said Mustafa Alani, a Middle East analyst from the Geneva-based Gulf Research Center. "They have realized that without bringing the fight to Damascus, the regime will not collapse."

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Obama said that if Syrian President Bashar Assad made the "tragic mistake" of deploying chemical weapons, there would be consequences. Obama stopped short of detailing those consequences.

Obama's comments came as U.S. officials said intelligence had detected Syrian movement of chemical weapons components in recent days.

The White House said earlier Monday that it was increasingly concerned that the beleaguered regime in Syria might be considering use of chemical weapons against its own people and warned that doing so would "cross a red line."

White House press secretary Jay Carney said U.S. officials were closely monitoring Syria's proliferation of sensitive materials and facilities, as opposition to the Syrian government grows.

Obama spoke later Monday at a gathering on securing nuclear weapons materials.

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A senior defense official said intelligence officials have detected activity around more than one of Syria's chemical weapons sites in the last week. The defense official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about intelligence matters.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, in Prague for meetings with Czech officials, reiterated President Barack Obama's declaration that Syrian action on chemical weapons was a "red line" for the United States that would prompt action.

"We have made our views very clear: This is a red line for the United States," Clinton told reporters. "I'm not going to telegraph in any specifics what we would do in the event of credible evidence that the Assad regime has resorted to using chemical weapons against their own people. But suffice it to say, we are certainly planning to take action if that eventuality were to occur."

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Iraq regained control of its airspace from the U.S. military just a year ago and has been under intense diplomatic pressure from the United States to isolate the Syrian regime. Turkey says it has closed its airspace to Syrian flights, and if Iraq did so, Syria would be virtually cut off from transporting military equipment by plane. European Union sanctions have already constricted arms transport by sea and air.

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In order to maintain their precarious control of the city, rebels this week virtually cut off roads to Aleppo from neighboring Raqa province, severing regime supply lines, the AFP reported.

Watch Reuters' footage below:

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Fresh from a campaign of thousands of hacks last week against Israeli government-related websites in retaliation for the military assault on Gaza, the hacker collective put out a release late Thursday vowing to take down "web assets belonging to the Assad regime" and provide communication avenues for Syrians in the Internet blackout.

The release also claims to have investigated and concluded that the ongoing Internet and mobile connection cut-off was perpetrated by the government:

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