Kofi Annan

Lebanon has become home to thousands of Syrian refugees, trying to flee the ongoing violence in the Middle Eastern country. Now, at least in one area of Lebanon, tensions are breaking into the open, with Syrians and Lebanese kidnapping one another over the weekend.

Syria’s been practically at war with itself for more than a year. U.N. peacekeepers have moved in to try and put a stop to the violence, but so far it persists. But they still have hope. The full 300-strong contingent is expected to be deployed soon.

Syria on Thursday was relatively calm — perhaps for the first time in more than a year. Both Syrian government soldiers and opposition forces seemed to be adhering, for the most part, to a U.N.-backed cease fire. But elements of the cease fire are yet to be implemented.

United Nations special envoy Kofi Annan says Syria has agreed to his six-point plan that he hopes will bring about an end to the year-long violence in the country. It’s already claimed more than 8,000 lives, according to U.N. estimates.

In the 1990s, thousands were massacred in the provinces of the former Yugoslavia. It took years, really, for the international community to intervene and stop the killing. Now some are worried the situation in Syria may devolve into that sort of mass killing — if it hasn’t already.