Syrian Women Choose Between Suicide Or Rape In Crisis Called 'A Complete Meltdown Of Humanity'

Many Syrian women have begun debating a stark choice: Die or be raped. Muhammad Al-Yaqoubi, a prominent Syrian Islamic scholar who fled Syria, said Tuesday he was fielding desperate questions from people in Aleppo, including whether “a man can kill his wife or sister to avoid rape by Assad regime forces.”

"We are receiving from Aleppo questions like this one, can a man kill his wife or sister before she is raped by Assad Forces in front of him?" he tweeted.

A Syrian activist also posted on Facebook a message that was reportedly from a girl in Aleppo: "To all the religious leaders and scholars of the world. To all those who are supposedly carrying the burden on their shoulder. I am one of Aleppo's girls who awaits rape within a few hours. There are no men nor arms to stand between us and the monster whom are called the Syrian army. I don’t want anything from you, not even prayers. I am still able to talk and I believe my prayers are more sincere then yours. All what I am asking for is don’t take God’s place and judge me when I kill myself. I am going to kill myself and I don’t care if you doom me to hell."

A humanitarian crisis that has seen 10 million Syrians flee their homes since the nation's civil war began in 2011 has fueled the haunting religious debate. Most recently, Syrian regime forces and sectarian militias executed Monday in Aleppo 200 people, including women and children. At least nine children and four women were reportedly burned to death as Syrian forces seized the city from rebel leaders fighting to unseat the government.

The United Nations described the violence as "a complete meltdown of humanity." Syria's civil war has taken the lives of 400,000 Syrians since 2011.

Nobel Laureate Jody Williams, co-chair of the International Campaign to Stop Rape & Gender Violence in Conflict, has warned about the rape crisis in Syria.

"With every war and major conflict, as an international community we say 'never again' to mass rape," she told the Atlantic in 2013. "Yet, in Syria, as countless women are again finding the war waged on their bodies--we are again standing by and wringing our hands."