Press sees rebels at Damascus gates

The Western and Gulf press, which had until now slammed the Free Syrian Army for its weakness, is suddenly claiming that it is about to take Damascus. President al-Assad was supposedly forced to deploy troops in the capital to save his regime, while heavy fighting is raging in the suburbs.

This fable aims both to validate the idea that armed groups are composed of many deserters (and not primarily Wahhabi mercenaries), and that the disturbances have finally reached the capital. Above all, it serves to divert the public’s attention a while longer from the contents of the Arab League report. Indeed, this document debunks the Western theory of a brutally quelled popular uprising.

Such propaganda efforts are meant to prepare public opinion for the next meeting of the Security Council to be attended by the French and UK foreign ministers, who were successful in legalizing the NATO intervention in Libya.