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  • 14 years ago
No time to wait for the dead in Syria.

Gravediggers in the northern town of Azaz no longer wait for bombs to fall before they break the ground. The dead come too fast.

. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) WORKMAN, ABU SOLIMAN, SAYING:

"We are expecting anything from this despicable man, anything. I went with two children to the market to get some milk; suddenly the market went upside down. What was the children's guilt? What was my guilt? Or was it what I was carrying?"

In 21 months of war, more than 45,000 people have been killed.

Some fear they are digging their own graves.

(SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) UNIDENTIFIED WORKMAN, SAYING:

"I am digging the grave and it's possible that it will be for me, my brother, my mother, my sister, or for my neighbors or even for my country."

Marble gravestones are tightly packed in the cemetery... there's little room left for more.

Another legacy of what started as a popular uprising -- and descended into a bloodbath.

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