Endless bloodshed and a stalemate in Syria
(CBS News) ON THE SYRIAN BORDER IN TURKEY - Turkey accused the dictatorship of Bashar al Assad of being terrorists on Wednesday. Syrians have been flooding into Turkey as the fighting has intensified.
The Syrian regime has been trying to put down a rebellion that broke out nearly 18 months ago, but there is no end to the violence in sight.
For the Syrian rebels, there is a trophy worth showing off: one of the regime's fighter jets.
Video posted online appears to show the aftermath of a crash and the pilot who lost his life.
The rebels claim they shot down the MiG-21 themselves, along with another war plane and a helicopter.
If that's true it's important, because in Syria's civil war, the government is relying on its control of the air.
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The Syrian regime still has nearly all of the heavy weapons on its side, including tanks.
One video, posted on the internet (and embedded below), seems to show government soldiers inside a tank firing on residential buildings and then celebrating by laughing.
The rebels appear to be making some gains against the regime, but the Assad government continues to bombard its own people. In a refugee camp in Turkey, there are people who have been on the receiving end of those attacks.
One of them is Abdul Kader Hamdo. He told CBS News he fled here from his home in the city of Aleppo, after the regime shelled his neighborhood.
Five of his family have been killed, he said. One of his sons is still fighting for the rebels.
After nearly 18 months, Syria's civil war looks increasingly like a stalemate, and that's no comfort at all for people who have lost their homes and their loved ones.
There are already 80,000 Syrian refugees living in camps in Turkey, but there are hundreds of more people flooding across the border everyday, and that's why the Turkish government is building three new camps to accommodate those new arrivals.
It's usually the case that most refugees are women and children. Conditions in the camps are actually pretty good. There's shelter, food and water, there are even medical clinics and schools. But when you talk to the Syrian refugees inside the camps they really want to go home. Abdul Kader Hamdo told CBS News that he would happily live on onions and bread if it was in his home in Syria.
(Below is unconfirmed video allegedly showing Syrian regime soldiers firing shells from a tank and celebrating afterwards.)