A nuclear holocaust is often associated with World War III.

With President Barack Obama on Wednesday gaining a vote of support over his bid for military action against Syria, should the world already cower and start digging underground hideouts in preparation for the apocalyptic doomsday WW3?

In Syria, one thing is for certain - its people don't want its country transformed into another Iraq.

Syrian activists have converged in Damascus as early as Tuesday setting up a camp at the foot of Qasioun Mountain, bringing up themselves as human shields. The activists strongly believed the mountain would become a casualty of war because it contains the country's many security and military buildings and institutions, a likely target for the planned airstrikes by the U.S.

Syria Strike Countdown: Apocalypse Doomsday WW3 Good as Done? ‘We Don’t Want to Become Another Iraq,’ Silent Red-Stained Hands Protest Goes Viral

"We are here to express our loyalty to our country in the face of American threats. We don't want what they did in Iraq over chemical weapons claims to be done in our country," one of the rally participants told RT.

The Syrian activists brought banners shouting "No more American bombing democracy" and "Hands off Syria." Such ironic words geared towards a country which has imposed on itself a self-police-ing attitude to "save" Syria from itself.

Video source: Youtube/MrPsychoVids

Over at the U.S., American protesters likewise rallied, hoping against hope its leader will wake up from his mission of so-called rescuing Syria amid a very possible apocalyptic doomsday WW3 scenario.

Anti-war protesters led by anti-war group Code Pink staged a protest for hours on Wednesday, waving red-stained hands on national television right behind Obama administration officials as they exhorted the approval of a military strike from U.S. lawmakers.

Seeing the red-stained hands was a chilling sight to behold and a knock to one's sense of reality of things likely to unfold.

I've been pro-bombing syria until seeing red hands on my tv. #codepink

— Chris Lowery (@CM_Lowery) September 4, 2013

.@CodePink protesters holding up red hands behind @JohnKerry as he speaks at House hearing on #Syria! pic.twitter.com/rXXS2QQPKB

— CODEPINK (@codepink) September 4, 2013

The #RedHands behind Kerry are pretty powerful. #Syria pic.twitter.com/TdNhrsPtUL

— jim spellman (@jimspellmanTV) September 4, 2013

@jimspellmanTV Won't we all have blood on our hands if the world does nothing for the innocent!

— micki (@orlandomicki) September 4, 2013

Code Pink, formed a decade ago to oppose the U.S. invasion of Iraq, said the colour red not only marks the very colour of blood but also the lost lives that would mar Secretary of State John Kerry's hands and legacy if Congress succumbs to pressure to approve the military attacks.

"John Kerry - diplomacy not war," a sign held by Medea Benjamin, a co-founder of Code Pink, read.

Mr Kerry knew the commotion happening behind his back. "When I walked into this room a person of conscience stood up behind me, as is the ability of people in our country, and that person said, 'Please, don't take us to war. Don't take us to another war.'"

"Let me be clear. We are not asking America to go to war," he said, as he vowed no U.S. ground troops would be sent into the Syrian chaos.

"They claim to want to be targeting weapons in exactly the same way they claimed to be targeting weapons of mass destruction in Iraq," Dr Bouthaina Shaaban, an adviser to Syrian President Bashar al Assad, told Sky News, as she reiterated the government was not the mastermind behind the Aug 21 chemical bombing which killed 1,400 people.

"They are using the same lies, the same fabrications, the same claims, in order to target our country and our people."

And along that same line, Faisal Muqdad, Syria's deputy foreign minister, vowed the Assad-led government will not back out from any US-led military strike threat against the country.

Syria Strike Countdown: Apocalypse Doomsday WW3 Good as Done? ‘We Don’t Want to Become Another Iraq,’ Silent Red-Stained Hands Protest Goes Viral

"The Syrian government will not change position even if there is World War III," Mr Muqdad said. "No Syrian can sacrifice the independence of his country."

"I would have liked to have told him (Kerry), 'When you lob missiles into another country, that is (already) war,'" Ms Benjamin said, who sat a few rows behind Mr Kerry and other members of the administration during the televised congressional hearing.

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