The prospect of American intervention in Syria brings perhaps the first breaking point in a war that has stretched into its 30th month. More than 100,o00 people are dead, and more than two million displaced.
With the President Barack Obama appealing to Congress and the nation to support a military intervention, now seems an appropriate time to look at the 2013 recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for breaking news photography, a gripping series of 20 photos from Rodrigo Abd, Manu Brabo, Narciso Contreras, Khalil Hamra, and Muhammed Muheisen with the Associated Press.
Relatively few journalists have covered the conflict in Syria, and among those who have, there are those who are missing or dead.
"Bringing news of this full-blown civil war to the world required repeated trips into the war zone, without government permission or protection," wrote AP's Director of Photography Santiago Lyon in his cover letter to the Pulitzer judges; "it demanded sensitive negotiations with shadowy groups of fighters. And always, there were the dangers of shelling, bombardment and errant bullets, the risk of abduction or capture."
These photographers risked everything to shed light on the situation in Syria.
Warning: Some of the images are disturbing.
SEE ALSO: The Biggest Myth Of The Syrian War Is That The Rebels Are Dominated By al Qaeda
A wounded woman still in shock leaves Dar El Shifa hospital in Aleppo, Syria, Sept. 20, 2012. Dozens of Syrian civilians were killed, four children among them, in artillery shelling by Syrian government forces in the northern Syrian town.
A Syrian man cries while holding the body of his son near Dar El Shifa hospital in Aleppo, Syria, Oct. 3, 2012. The boy was killed by the Syrian army.
A rebel sniper aims at a Syrian army position, as he and another rebel fighter are reflected in a mirror inside a residential building in the Jedida district of Aleppo, Syria, Oct. 29, 2012.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider