While procedures are being put in place for Syrians to return to their war-torn country from neighboring Lebanon, the refugee crisis continues to linger and remains largely unchanged, a Caritas Lebanon official said.

In seven years of civil war, the Discalced Carmelites convent has suffered many food, water and electricity shortages, seen its windows shattered and a surrounding wall destroyed.

The pope is praying especially for peace in Syria, Nigeria and the Koreas.

The U.S.-led missile strikes on Syria are a show of force that will accomplish nothing in a country that has seen nothing but war for seven years.

The prime minister authorized Royal Air Force participation in the U.S.-led strike while Parliament was in recess, upending an recent tradition of shared powers.

If the U.S. does not take this opportunity to strike the Assad regime, the lesson to every dictator will be that they can get away with any atrocity that keeps them in power.