The city of Daraa became the inferno of the ongoing Syrian uprising last March in one clean, bloody swipe, when 15 children who had scribbled anti-government phrases on the walls of their school were arrested, beaten, and tortured, many of their faces burned with acid. In response, hoards of peaceful protesters took to the streets, only to be riddled with indiscriminating bullets fired by Hezbollah snipers. Those detained by government security forces were never seen again. Nobody went into Daraa, and nobody got out.