Enough already of this nonsense!  it's obvious that Al Assad and his regime have committed terrible crimes in Syria, so have the rebels backed by Isis who we're all familiar with, (Cutting off peoples heads)!  here's the deal, Syria is in the midst of a civil war, not the first one in history I might add!  Wars, especially civil wars are brutal often because it's an internal struggle with so much at stake for either side. Most countries in the Middle East as we've all witnessed over the last 40 years or so going back to Israel and Lebanon, (remember the civil war in Lebanon, far more brutal in my opinion and lasted 15 years!) are simply not prepared or equipped to be democracies as we know it or we wish.  99.9% of westerners could never possibly understand the Sunni/Shia divide, we just like to think we can and try to impose our will on them. Syria's in the midst of a CIVIL WAR that  belongs to them. all we can do as Canadians is continue to be compassionate and assist the refugees!