ALEPPO, SYRIA (Catholic Online) - Just hours after a series of suicide bombings, all the bodies of the dead have been cleared away, except for some unknown reason, the body of a girl killed in a blast. Lying in a near-fetal position as though asleep, the child is deceased and left on the sidewalk, her body not even picked up for a dignified burial. 

The girl was one of 40 victims. 

The civil war which has wracked Syria has taken its toll on civilians with somewhere between 30,000 and 40,000 casualties. Observers believe a solid double-digit percentage of those are children, who have been deliberately targeted by government forces in many instances. 

The body of the girl, left behind after the removal of the others, is a stark message telling the world just how hellish the conflict has become for the civilian population. The conflict has become so vicious that even simple gestures of humanity, such as the compassionate removal of a deceased child, have faded away in the struggle for survival.

The people of Aleppo and several other locations throughout the country are facing a desperate situation. Clean water and electricity have become a distant memory. Disease and hunger are becoming standard fare. The lack of medicine and doctors, not to mention food, has driven the population to apathetic survival. In such cases, people lose their humanity and behave as animals. 

In the midst of this, the world continues to dither, unsure of how to approach the situation. Fears of provoking Russia and China have kept major international intervention at bay, intervention that includes aid and a no-fly zone for Syrian aircraft, which are the regime's chief weapon of terror. 

International observers report that the situation has reached a stalemate. Others are concerned about escalation. Yesterday, Turkish artillery performed a counter-battery fire mission into Syria in response to border shelling that killed at least five in that country. 

The situation in Syria is so dire that many reporters have been removed from the country. 

Help the child victims of this conflict. Click there to see what you can do. 

Meanwhile, the lifeless body of a girl now serves as a silent ambassador, hopefully shaming the world into action as the crisis in Syria becomes ever worse.

© 2012, Distributed by NEWS CONSORTIUM.