Never ending war.

The Syrian civil war seems to have no end in sight. Multiple ceasefires have failed and the fighting rages on. Multiple evacuation attempts have been negotiated, but have remained unsuccessful for a variety of reasons.

Stalled evacuation.

An evacuation ceasefire was reached temporarily in an effort to remove civilians from the violence of the war. A deal was made that would allow rebel held areas of Aleppo to be evacuated as long as Syrian government held villages of Foua and Kfarya were allowed to be evacuated. However, after the evacuation began, shootings were reported violating a ceasefire for the plan. This suspended the evacuation temporarily. On Sunday, the evacuation resumed only temporarily. Unfortunately, it was stalled when an "unknown rebel group" attacked the evacuation buses. The buses were headed towards the government held villages of Foua and Kfarya. The attacks took place in an area controlled by the government opposition group Jund al-Aqsa. According to the Guardian, the attack was launched on six of the buses.

Let’s not forget.

Christmas is this week. As such, we will be spending the days leading up with loved ones drinking hot chocolate, exchanging gifts, ice skating, and just being festive. We will also spend much of this week fighting insane traffic driving to see loved ones, stressing about buying Christmas presents for all of our friends, and possibly sitting through some awkward family dinners. For all of that I’m thankful. At this time of year we often find ourselves overwhelmed by these things that are honestly kind of trivial. In our busyness, it’s easy to forget things like Aleppo and the war in Syria. It’s easy to focus on our comfortable, peaceful lives here in the U.S. It’s easy to not remember that 400,000 people have died since the beginning of the war. It’s easy for us to forget that nearly five million Syrians have fled their war-torn nation. It’s easy to forget that while leaders of the world’s nations have been arguing over foreign policy on this issue, people were losing their homes, loved ones, and lives to this war that can only be described as hell on earth. According to the New York Post it is estimated that between 50,000 and 100,000 people remain in war-torn eastern Aleppo.

Keep Aleppo in your prayers.

This Holiday season, cherish and appreciate your loved ones. During the time you spend with them, keep the people of Aleppo and all of Syria in your prayers. Have some empathy for your fellow man.