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Day 6

Five stories from five years of war in Syria

Over the past five years Day 6 has covered many stories about the Syrian war and its ramifications on Canada and the world at large. Here are just five stories from our archives that chronicle tension and destruction of this civil war.
TK Matunda · CBC ·

Including the Jabhat al-Nusra front fighters on the American terrorist list

Al-Nusra Front drive in armed vehicles in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo as they head to a frontline, on May 26, 2015. (AFP/Getty Images)

Air Date: Dec 15, 2012

Journalist David Enders spoke with Day 6 about being on the front lines of the Syrian war alongside the Jabhat al-Nusra front fighters and the significance of the group's inclusion on the U.S. list of terrorist organizations.

The al-Nusra front is one of many loosely connected rebel factions working together to defeat Assad's forces. Some believe that the rebels may not be as successful without the help of this group. 

Even Russia - one of the Assad regime's staunchest allies - conceded that Assad may lose the battle.

Day 68:19Including the Jabhat al-Nusra front fighters on the American terrorist list
McClatchy Newspapers correspondent David Enders spoke with Day 6 about being on the front lines of the Syrian war alongside the Jabhat al-Nusra front fighters and the significance of the group’s inclusion on the U.S. list of terrorist organizations.

Syrian Cartoonist: Ali Ferzat continues to defy Assad Regime

Air Date: Jan 6, 2013

Syrian cartoonist Ali Ferzat attends the opening session of the Oslo Freedom Forum on May 13, 2013 in Oslo. (AFP/Getty Images)

Day 6 spoke with  Ali Ferzat renowned Syrian political cartoonist about the violent crackdown on Syrian pro-democracy protesters.

In August 2013, Ferzat was kidnapped and attacked by Assad's militia - left broken and bleeding on the side of a road. The attack was condemned internationally, and further inflamed the protests. During the 2012 uprising his cartoons shifted from symbolic imagery to critical depictions of President Assad and his regime.

Human rights workers claim to have  found evidence of a network of torture centres run by Syrian intelligence agencies.

Day 68:01Syrian Cartoonist Ali Ferzat Continues To Defy Assad Regime
As Bashar al-Assad's regime continues to kill protestors and dissidents in Syria, human rights workers say they have found an "archipelago" of torture centres in the country. Syrian cartoonist Ali Ferzat knows the Assad regime's tactics all too well, having had his hand broken by militiamen for satirizing the president's rule. He received the Sakharov Prize last year for his work, and continues to draw in Kuwait.

Gruesome propaganda: the rise of "atrocity videos" in Syria

Free Syrian Army members watch a video of government Army soldiers torturing and executing a Free Syrian Army soldier. (Getty Images)

Air Date : May 18, 2013

Day 6 speaks with Tracy Shelton, senior correspondent for GlobalPost about the circulation of graphic videos among Syrian fighters from both sides of the conflict.  There are concerns that these videos - which are used as propaganda tools - are causing retaliatory violence to spread across the country.

A gruesome 27 second video clip of a rebel soldier - Khalid al-Hamad - cutting out an organ from the body of a dead pro-Assad soldier, and then biting into it. The soldier told TIME he did this after finding video on the dead man's phone that shows him assaulting a naked woman and her two daughters.

Day 67:51Gruesome propaganda: the rise of "atrocity videos" in Syria
A graphic new video clip from the war in Syria appears to show a rebel soldier biting into an organ from the body of a dead pro-Assad soldier. Brent speaks to Tracey Shelton about the propaganda videos from the battlefields of Syria and Libya.

Syrian National Council's President: U.S coordinating with Free Syrian Army

President of the opposition Syrian National Council, George Sabra answers questions during a press conference in Cairo on February 24, 2013. (AFP/Getty Images)

Air Date: Aug 31, 2013

Brent speaks with George Sabra, President of the Syrian National Council about his belief that the U.S. is working with the Free Syrian Army. He met with John Baird, former Canadian foreign affairs minister to speak about increasing Canada's intervention in Syria.

Earlier that week U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry laid out what he believes is American evidence that Syrian President Bashad al-Assad launched a chemical weapons attack on his own citizens.

Kerry claimed more than 1400 people were killed, including more than 400 children.

Day 67:10Syrian National Council's President: U.S. coordinating with Free Syrian Army
George Sabra, President of the Syrian National Council, suggests an American military strike against the Assad regime is imminent.

The "Long View" on war and ultimatums

U.S. President Barack Obama addresses the nation from the East Room of the White House on September 10, 2013. (Getty Images)

Air Date: Sep 7, 2013

President of the U.S. Obama pushed for a military response to punish the Assad regime "for crossing a red line". He claimed that  U.S. intelligence proved that the Syrian government used chemical weapons against its own people in August 2013.

Brent speaks with Dan Carlin, host of the podcasts Hardcore History and Common Sense about what we can learn from past political ultimatums.