REUTERS/Hamid Khatib
A Sunni Sheikh, who goes by the pseudonym of Abou Obaida, holds up his weapon, and gestures while calling upon worshippers to join a jihad against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during Friday prayers inside Osama Bin Zayed mosque in Aleppo August 9, 2013.
The uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, which is now in its 29th month, has broken the country into three parts, while Iran increases its influence over the Assad regime.
On the ground it's basically mayhem as the Syrian Army is counterattacking around the capital, al-Qaeda linked rebels are running most of the country's biggest city (i.e. Aleppo), the regime is besieging the third largest (i.e. Homs), and the Kurds are fighting rebels to gain control of the country's northeast.
All in all, it doesn't seem to be cooling down.