Syria’s bloody civil war will hit its two-year mark this March, and still, embattled despot Bashar al-Assad clings to power. The all-consuming war has left more than 70,000 people dead — half of them civilians. Sadly, violent conflict has become the new normal in much of Syria,  and it’s often only while taking refuge behind Aleppo’s crumbled, pock-marked walls that Free Syria Army fighters can indulge in fleeting moments of their previous lives. 

• A soldier tries to entice a stray cat to come a little closer in Khan al-Assal on Nov. 10, 2012. (REUTERS/Zain Karam)
  
  
• Rebels pose with their weapons and a snowman in Homs on Jan. 10.(REUTERS/Yazan Homsy)
  
  
• A fighter finds a moment to fix himself up a bit in Aleppo on Dec. 25, 2012. (REUTERS/Muzaffar Salman)