Day 1,139: A boy’s trip to the hospital

Today is Day 1,139 of the Syria conflict.

A combination of mortar attacks and at least one car bomb have killed at least 37 people in Homs and wounded over 80.

Mortar fire also killed 12 in Damascus this morning, according to Syrian state media. State media blamed the attacks on "terrorists," a word the regime applies to all rebels. Opposition groups have not claimed responsibility for the attacks, but they have made others of similar nature, according to the AP, firing mortars from "rebel-held districts" of the city. The boy in the photo above was injured during one of the attacks this morning.

A group of international lawyers have signed an open letter uging the UN to deliver aid to Syria regardless of the government's "consent" or lack thereof. The government's restrictions, they say, are "arbitrary," and the UN is being "overly cautious" in its interpretation of international humanitarian law. 

And from another quarter: Human Rights Watch today called upon the UN to stop the flow of arms to the Syrian government, and released a report saying that "The Syrian government is indiscriminately striking civilians and civilian objects in Aleppo with unguided, high-explosive barrel bombs." The report has the usual, extremely useful before-after shots that HRW has adopted in recent years.

Oh: And yesterday, Bashar al-Assad officially declared his candidacy in the June 3 elections. An estimated 9 million Syrians have been displaced by the recent conflict. The Syrian electoral commission chief has said that those who left through unofficial border crossings will be ineligible to vote. 

The conflict continues.