Meanwhile, east of Syria, every day just drones on...

As we debate the issue of whether causing mass civilian deaths with the use of chemical weapons demands a military response, the conventional weapons' infliction of mass civilian death goes on and on and on.

Afghan officials have said an apparent Nato air strike has killed 15 people – nine of them civilians, including women and children – in an eastern province where the Taliban remain strong. Nato said 10 militants had died in the strike, and that it had no reports of any civilian deaths.

Civilian deaths in Nato operations have long been a sore point between the Afghan government and the US-led troops in the country, and they have been a major factor in the animosity many Afghans feel towards foreign forces.

Hearts and minds are often harder to win when other hearts and minds are blown away via fiery death from the sky. But I'm sure nothing will ever come of it, right?

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]