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In the aftermath of last week’s Houla massacre, Syria appears on the brink. The threat of a full-scale, open civil war looms and fears are growing around the country’s violence spilling out across the Middle East. A first-time filmmaker whose debut documentary, “U.N. Me,” traces and critiques the history of the U.N., discusses how the organization should act in Syria.

Another massacre in Syria and more video showing horribly brutalized bodies. In the latest allegation, men were taken from a work bus and killed, execution style. The latest allegations suggests the same pattern as in the killings in Houla last week, actions taken by pro-government militia known as Shabiha. The United Nations Human Rights Commission is meeting in an emergency session to talk about the bloody events in Houla and now this latest atrocity.

On March 29, the Department of Homeland Security added Syria to the list of nations deemed so unstable that that temporary protected status is granted to the country’s nationals living in the U.S. Are conditions in Syria reaching a point where a rescue is in order?

In a Washington Post op-ed last month, Senator Joseph Lieberman spoke of “horrific human rights abuses perpetrated daily, including the widespread and deliberate use of rape and other sexual violence as weapons of war.” Lauren Wolfe, director of the Women Under Siege Project, which has curated a map plotting instances of sexual violence in Syria, talks with Brooke about trying to check the senator's claim and the difficulty of verifying claims of rape in a war-zone.

The Chieftains - The Stone

The massacre at Houla forced the world to remember the ongoing violence in Syria. President Bashar al-Assad has reportedly killed 12,000 civilians and doesn't appear willing to stop. A coalition of opposition groups called the Syrian National Council has emerged as the best political force to fight the regime. But how effective has the Council really been?

The unrest in Syria implicates Iran-US-Israel relations, as does the news of the latest computer virus known as "flame." We check in on Iranian stability with Afshin Molavi, senior research fellow at the New America Foundation and former Tehran-based correspondent for the Washington Post.

All this week The Takeaway has followed the news out of Syria, where a horrific massacre at the hands of Syrian government troops in the village of Houla recently left 108 civilians dead, including a number of children, most murdered at close-point range. Are we at a tipping point in Syria?

All this week The Takeaway has followed the news out of Syria, where a horrific massacre at the hands of Syrian government troops in the village of Houla recently left 108 civilians dead, including a number of children, most murdered at close-point range. Is it time to intervene in Syria?

Exploring the news for the week ahead are Callie Crossley, host of The Callie Crossley Show on WGBH, and Marcus Mabry, editor at large at The International Herald Tribune, the international edition of our partner, The New York Times.

The UN Security Council held an emergency meeting yesterday to discuss a massacre that took place over the weekend in the Syrian town of Houla. The Syrian government insists that its tanks and artillery were not responsible for attacks that killed at least 90 villagers – including 32 children – but monitors who visited the village after the attacks said they found evidence that the Syrian military fired on civilians. Amr Al Azm, member of the Syrian opposition and professor of history and anthropology at Shawnee State University and Joshua Landis, director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma, react to the latest news from Syria.

Laura Lynch, a correspondent for PRI's The World, recently spent seven days inside the Syria. She did so with permission, following U.N. monitors as they toured the country in an effort to maintain a U.N./Arab League-orchestrated ceasefire. Lynch shares her impressions and experiences of her time within Syria, and assesses the fragile state of the country.

The Syrian capital has gotten used to the sound of sirens, but this morning's two bomb blasts stand out as perhaps the most deadly in the capital. Syria's health minister says at least 50 people are dead, at least 170 wounded. The blasts were so powerful, a facade of a military intelligence build was ripped off. Today's bombing calls into question the entire UN peace plan. It's current mission inside the country is to monitor the peace, but seemingly there is very little peace to monitor. Ahmad Fawzi, spokesman for Kofi Annan, Joint Envoy for Syria responds. We are also joined by correspondent for The World Laura Lynch from inside Syria.

A tense violent backdrop to some very difficult to interpret elections in Syria over the past few days and now everything is once again on the verge of unraveling. Free Syrian Army chief Riad al-Asaad, a leader of the opposition has told a London-based newspaper that "our people are demanding that we defend them." It's another sign that the tentitive peace process initiated by UN special envoy Kofi Annan may be crumbling. Laura Lynch is a correspondent for PRI's The World, produced by our partner WGBH.

Much of the hardware and software used by oppressive regimes to monitor foreign dissidents is manufactured in the west. Margaret Coker, Middle East Correspondent for the Wall Street Journal, talks to Bob about President Obama's recent Executive Order banning the sale of this technology to Iran and Syria.

Journalists have become increasingly reliant on digital technology in their work, but weak or nonexistent digital security measures open their sources to risk of exposure. Brooke speaks to journalist Matthieu Aikins about the need for reporters to take more precautions to protect their digital information, especially in conflict areas.

Since the violence in Syria began, the country's First Lady Asma al-Assad, known for having a cherished place in her husband's inner circle, has been silent about the uprising. A new graphic video released this week by two UN ambassador's wives addresses the woman called "the real dictator" of her family directly, calling on Asma as a woman, a mother, and wife to the most powerful man in the country to "forget the image — and end the violence." Huberta von Voss-Wittig is the wife of the German ambassador to the United Nations, Peter Wittig. She explains why she thinks this video could make a difference.

The violence in Syria has continued in spite of the ceasefire which came into effect on Thursday, and the first members of a United Nations truce monitoring mission which have arrived in the Syrian capital, Damascus. Fighting was reported between government forces and rebels in the city of Homs and unverified video posted on the internet showed the Khaldiyeh area of Homs being heavily shelled. Kieran Dwyer, from the UN's Department of Peacekeeping Ops, outlines what's expected of the monitors in the coming days.

Discussing the news for the week ahead are Marcus Mabry, editor-at-large at The International Herald Tribune and Charlie Herman, business and economics editor for The Takeaway and WNYC Radio, discuss the news for the week ahead, including the end of a ceasefire in Syria, Israeli-Palestine talks, rising Eurozone borrowing costs, and the Romneys' interview with Diane Sawyer.

A ceasefire has come into force in Syria amid doubts expressed by Western countries about the government's willingness to stick to it. Correspondents say the truce appears to be largely holding, with no reports of casualties or deaths so far. The Syrian government and the armed opposition have both said they will abide by the ceasefire, but reserved the right to respond if attacked. We are joined by Ausama Monajed of the Syrian National Council.

Gideon Rose, editor of Foreign Affairs Magazine and author of How Wars End: Why We Always Fight the Last Battle, explains the state of the negotiations for a ceasefire in Syria, and what we know about the presidential ballot in Egypt.