A very human story

The recent death of Marie Colvin throws the current horrors of Syria into a particularly human relief. I choose the word 'human' with care.

As a reporter she was at once familiar — her signature eye-patch (a result of a shrapnel wound). She was also a very human interlocutor of evil events, seldom interested in which type of plane it was that dropped the bomb or the calibre of the shells fired, for her it was the human narrative that mattered.

She brought the visceral misery of war right into your lap — and pressed it firmly down — lest we should ever forget.

One of her last communications sent from the town of Homs describes a child losing his life. She wrote simply: 'Watched a baby die today. Shrapnel, Doctors could do nothing. His little tummy just heaved and heaved until he stopped.'

Syria is in a desperate crisis with its leadership bent on stamping out descent with whatever brutality it takes. Over 11,000 have died.

Syria is in a desperate crisis with its leadership bent on stamping out descent with whatever brutality ittakes. Over 11,000 have died. The UN response is hobbled by Syria's allies Russia and China, although serious EU sanctions have now been enacted not least against her oil.

There are those who call for military intervention but this is not a sensible option given the size of the Syrian military, the lack of UN unity and the caution of the Arab League. So we must keep up the non-military pressure.

And we should also never forget Marie Colvin — someone I somehow expected would continue on to armchair retirement, despite the rockets and guns.

It is said that intercepts of Syrian radio transmissions made shortly before she died gave explicit instructions to target the building in which she sheltered. Bashar al-Assad has much precious blood on his hands.