SYRIA-CONFLICT

Rebel fighters duck as they run behind a barricade to avoid being fired at by Syrian regime forces in the Old City’s front line in Aleppo on September 18, 2013. Damascus and key ally Moscow joined forces in a bid to thwart plans for a Western-backed UN resolution on Syria’s chemical weapons that allows the use of force. The United States, meanwhile, said it will maintain the threat of force in case Syria’s regime fails to abide by an agreement to relinquish control of its chemical weapons. AFP PHOTO/JM LOPEZ