Since January 2013 the UNHCR has registered almost 1 million Syrian refugees – an average of 250,000 people each month. Officials acknowledge that the real number of refugees is probably much higher. In addition, more than 4 million people have been internally displaced. According to the CIA World Factbook, Syria’s population is around 22 million people, meaning nearly 30 percent of Syrians have been displaced by the current violence. “I’m working in my poetry to tell the truth about my people” says Al-Masri. “The outsiders are stealing the revolution from Syrians. Hezbollah and foreign extremists are getting involved. I want the international community to give my people medicine and milk, help them survive. What can poetry do in front of all this murder? If the poet doesn’t speak, who will do it? Poetry is about freedom; it has always been about freedom.” 

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Another NBC News story on precisely the same topic comes away with a similar conclusion: "progressives are ready to give her another shot."

Progressives are basically fine with Hillary Clinton taking the 2016 nomination. There! Settled.

And why shouldn't they be? As Markos Moulitsas puts it, “The fact that she makes 2016 uninteresting makes that attractive." Yeah, that's about all you need, too. She would win. And you know who's a good nominee to go with, in general, in politics? The one who would win the election. Progressives overall might prefer, say, an Elizabeth Warren or Martin O'Malley for the nominee, but they likely won't run if Hillary Clinton runs, so whatever.

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The report points to longterm conflicts in Mali, Syria and the Democratic Republic of Congo as contributing heavily to the number of displaced peoples. António Guterres, UN high commissioner for refugees and head of UNHCR, said "These truly are alarming numbers. They reflect individual suffering on a huge scale and they reflect the difficulties of the international community in preventing conflicts and promoting timely solutions for them." The Guardian reported:

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Obama says even though leaders could not agree on whether Syrian President Bashar Assad must go, he has decided it is not possible for Assad to regain legitimacy.

Obama spoke at a joint press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel (AHN'-geh-lah MEHR'-kuhl).

Obama, Russian President Vladimir Putin and other leaders of the Group of Eight industrial economies meeting in Northern Ireland this week tried to narrow sharp differences between Russia, a key Assad backer, and Western leaders.

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“Some people say, ‘Well, you know, Obama was this raving liberal before. Now he’s, you know, Dick Cheney.’ Dick Cheney sometimes says, ‘Yeah, you know? He took [Bush-Cheney policies] all lock, stock and barrel,'” Obama said. "My concern has always been not that we shouldn’t do intelligence gathering to prevent terrorism, but rather are we setting up a system of checks and balances.”

He continued to defend the NSA's phone surveillance program, by contending that the agency is not listening to Americans' phone calls. "The way I view it, my job is both to protect the American people and to protect the American way of life, which includes our privacy. And so every program that we engage in, what I’ve said is 'Let’s examine and make sure that we’re making the right tradeoffs.'” Obama continued: "What I can say unequivocally is that if you are a U.S. person, the NSA cannot listen to your telephone calls, and the NSA cannot target your emails … and have not."

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The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that fighter jets struck near the Kweiras air base near the Turkish border early Tuesday. Opposition forces fighting to oust Assad's regime for more than two years have been trying for months to take Kweiras and two other military air bases nearby.

Assad's regime has relied heavily in the past year on its air force to neutralize the opposition's territorial gains. In the last year, rebels have been able to capture much of the area near the Turkish border, several districts in Aleppo, the whole city of Raqqa and even dams on the River Euphrates. But they have had difficulty running these areas effectively because of the threat of attack from the air.

The Observatory, which relies on a network of informants inside Syria, also reported heavy clashes in Aleppo, the country's commercial hub.

There were no reports of casualties in either the strikes or the fighting.

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From Pew:

The latest national survey by the Pew Research Center, conducted June 12-16 among 1,512 adults, finds a major factor in overall attitudes about Syria is the impression that the U.S. military is already stretched thin. About two-thirds (68%) say the U.S. is too overcommitted to get involved in another conflict, and just 27% disagree. The public also has questions about the opposition groups in Syria: 60% say that they may be no better than the current government.

At the same time, the public does not reject a key argument for involvement in Syria: by a 53%-36% margin, most agree that it is important for the U.S. to support people who oppose authoritarian regimes.

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And that’s why the substance and timing of Clinton’s remarks matter.

Indeed, given the limited supply of weapons the administration is prepared to provide the rebels, Obama’s change of heart isn’t about overthrowing Assad or jumping militarily into Syria with both feet; it’s about protecting his own credibility, reputation and legacy in a second and final term.

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"Militarily, where is our commander in chief?" she asked. "We’re talking now more new interventions. I say, until we know what we’re doing, until we have a commander and chief who knows what he’s doing, well, in these radical Islamic countries, who aren’t even respecting basic human rights, where both sides are slaughtering each other as they scream over an arbitrary red line, ‘Allah Akbar,’ I say until we have someone who knows what they’re doing, I say let Allah sort it out."

Here's video of Palin's full remarks. The Syria comments come in around the 7:35 mark:

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The initial commentaries sparked by this public statement demonstrated a major shortcoming in our discussion on Syria for months – a heavy fixation on tactics or means to achieve objectives, without much reference to the overall strategy with all of its components. At times it seems as if a “no strategy” zone has been imposed on the U.S. policy debate on Syria.

The Obama administration’s overall cautious strategy on Syria – and yes, it does have a strategy – remains largely intact and unchanged in the broad contours. The key question isn’t whether the administration has a strategy. Instead, the most important questions are whether the administration’s Syria strategy is effective in advancing U.S. security interests and values -- and whether the full range of means the United States is willing to invest in will produce the outcomes it hopes to achieve.

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“The president also will announce that we will be assisting the Syrian rebels by providing them with weapons and other assistance. I applaud the president’s decision.”

Strangely, an administration official then told the Daily Beast's Josh Rogin that the U.S. wouldn't be arming the opposition.

“The president has made a decision to provide the Syrian opposition with military items that can increase their effectiveness on the ground, but at this point it does not include things like guns and bullets,” the official tells The Daily Beast.

Which is it? "Senator McCain heard that from reliable sources,” his spokesman told the Daily Beast. It appears that McCain was correct: The U.S. will be supplying the Syrian opposition with small arms.

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U.S. officials confirmed Obama's authorization Thursday after the White House announced it had conclusive evidence that Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime used chemical weapons against opposition forces. Obama has said the use of chemical weapons would cross a "red line," suggesting greater American intervention.

While a small percentage of the 93,000 people reportedly killed in Syria are said to have died from chemical weapons — U.S. intelligence puts the number at 100 to 150 — the White House views the deployment of the deadly agents as a flouting of international norms. Ben Rhodes, Obama's deputy national security adviser, said the multiple chemical weapons attacks gave greater urgency to the situation.

"Suffice it to say this is going to be different in both scope and scale in terms of what we are providing," Rhodes said of the ramped-up U.S. response. But he added that the U.S. would make specific determinations "on our own timeline."

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However, the officials said the administration has not determined how it will respond.

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A new analysis of the Syrian death toll documented 92,901 killings between March 2011 and the end of April 2013. But the U.N.'s top human rights official, Navi Pillay, who oversees the Geneva-based office, said it was impossible to provide an exact current figure.

The last such analysis, released in January, documented nearly 60,000 killings through the end of November. Since then, U.N. officials had estimated higher numbers. The latest figures add more confirmed killings to the previous time period, and find almost 27,000 more between December and April.

"The constant flow of killings continues at shockingly high levels, with more than 5,000 killings documented every month since last July," said Pillay, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights. "This is most likely a minimum casualty figure. The true number of those killed is potentially much higher."

Among the victims were at least 6,561 children, including 1,729 children younger than 10.

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Their victory, however, was short-lived as Israeli security sources said Syrian troops took back the crossing after heavy fighting.

Earlier, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and a spokesman for the Austrian Defense Ministry reported that rebels had taken the crossing, according to Reuters.

Israeli citizens have been ordered to stay away from the border fence area by authorities as fighting continues in the UN-patrolled demilitarized zone. The crossing is normally operated by the UN Disengagement Observer Force.

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The capture of the town, which lies close to the Lebanese border, solidifies some of the regime's recent gains on the ground that have shifted the balance of power in Assad's favor in the Syrian civil war.

It comes just a day after France and Britain made back-to-back announcements that the nerve gas sarin was used in Syria's conflict. A U.N. probe, also released Tuesday, said it had "reasonable grounds" to suspect small-scale use of toxic chemicals in at least four attacks in March and April in Syria.

The statements — which included a confirmed case of the Syrian regime using sarin — leave many questions unanswered, however, because the probes were mostly carried out from outside Syria from samples collected by doctors and journalists.

On the ground in the past two months, the Syrian army has moved steadily against rebels in key battleground areas, making advances near the border with Lebanon and considerably lowering the threat to Damascus, the seat of Assad's government. A wide offensive on Qusair was launched on May 19.

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The U.N. Commission of Inquiry said conclusive findings can be reached only after testing samples taken directly from victims or the site of the alleged attacks. It called on Damascus to allow a team of experts into the country.

President Barack Obama has said repeatedly that Syria's use of chemical weapons, or the transfer of its stockpiles to a terrorist group, would cross a "red line." Tuesday's report appeared to strengthen U.S. officials' assertions that more definitive proof was needed.

The commission's report to the Human Rights Council on violations in Syria's conflict accused both sides of committing war crimes. In an apparent message to European countries considering arming Syrian rebels, the report warned that the transfer of arms would heighten the risk of violations, leading to more civilian deaths and injuries.

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"SUNDAY SHOWDOWN!" George Stephanopoulos greets us, to open This Week. It's a political consultant versus another political consultant! Whose talking points will win? "Let's get right to it" with David Plouffe versus Karl Rove, before you even have time to run to the bathroom. Arianna Huffington, Gwen Ifill and the WSJ editorial page's Paul Gigot watch from the other side of the table.

Stephanopoulos shows poll numbers that indicate the public doesn't especially care about any of The Scandals, today's hot lead. Forty-four percent find the IRS targeting scandal the most important, however. And Karl Rove says if you look "inside the numbers," the public is still very unhappy with the economy. And the IRS collects taxes from the economy, so there you go: biggest scandal ever, searingly pertinent to all.

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The unabashedly pro-government SEA announced Thursday evening that the Syrian Computer Society (SCS), which regulates Syria's domain names and possibly shuts off the country's connectivity entirely in times of duress, had severed ties with the hacker group.

"SCS stopped our website hosting on its servers," one member of the SEA told the Daily Dot.

The Syrian government, currently embroiled in a civil war with rebels, has long maintained an unclear alliance with the SEA. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad once headed the SCS, who provided some of the SEA's early members, and Assad previously had referred to the SEA as "a real army in a virtual reality.” But, save the those references and fact that the country had granted the hackers a .sy domain name—a top-level domain exclusively issued by the SCS— there wasn't an explicit connection between the SEA and Assad's regime.

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