Most estimates agree that more than 15,000 Syrians have been killed since the uprising began. Whatever the make-up of the armed opposition, everyone agrees that the only forces in Syria with tanks and heavy artillery belong to the Syrian army. Damage to buildings in many cities caused by shelling by these forces has been widely seen. Yet, President Bashar al-Assad now claims that the majority of the casualties in the conflict are government supporters who have been killed by “terrorists.”

Here’s my question for anyone who anyone who casts a critical eye on the global war on terrorism: why would you not be even more skeptical about Syria’s war on terrorism?

Robert Mackey has posted an interview of Assad conducted in English by Jürgen Todenhöfer, a former member of the German Parliament who is an outspoken critic of Western foreign policy in the Muslim world.

Mr. Todenhöfer also interviewed Mr. Assad during a previous reporting trip to Syria, late last year. After that visit, the German author wrote in a report for Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung: “Paradoxically, it is Bashar al-Assad who could most likely achieve a peaceful transition toward democracy, because he still has the power and still holds the authority among the majority of the population.”

In that same article, Mr. Todenhöfer also criticized foreign media reports on Syria and the armed rebels. “According to my personal experiences in Damascus, Dara’a, Homs and Hama,” he wrote, “at least half of the reports on Syria are simply false – almost like before the Iraq war.” He added that the “guerrilla commandos, whose methods differ little from those of the state’s security services,” have “robbed the revolution of its innocence and also harmed the peaceful demonstrators who have the historical merit of having initiated the process of democratization.”

Mr. Assad’s comments in the new interview included the accusation that Syrian rebels — whom he described as “an amalgam of Al Qaeda” and drug-smuggling criminals — were responsible for the recent massacre in Houla. He also claimed that the “armed gangs” who carried out the killings had worn government uniforms to frame forces loyal to him.

Meanwhile, The Guardian reports: Kofi Annan has declared his third round of talks with Bashar al-Assad as “constructive” and suggested his stillborn plan to stop the violence in Syria may yet be revived.

The UN special envoy to Syria said on Monday that a fresh approach to end the conflict would be put to the Syrian opposition, but offered no further details.

The centrepiece of the former UN chief’s plan announced in April was a ceasefire by both sides that never took hold. Instead, the violence in Syria has escalated, with daily death tolls over the past two months approaching those seen during the bloodiest days of Iraq’s civil war six years ago.

Before Monday’s summit, the Syrian president described Annan’s plan as good. After the two-hour meeting, Assad’s aides couched the the talks as “constructive and good”.

The Associated Press reports: An Iranian official has warned of a “catastrophe” in the Middle East if no political solution is found to the 16-month crisis in Syria.

Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian also says Syria has a strong army and is able to defend itself from attack alone without Iran’s help.

Iran is Syria’s closest ally and has stood by President Bashar Assad’s regime through the uprising against his rule.

Abdollahian spoke at a press conference in Amman, Jordan, Sunday.

His comments follow an acknowledgement by special envoy Kofi Annan that the international community’s efforts to find a political solution to the escalating violence in Syria have failed.

Reuters reports: Syria’s navy fired live missiles from ships and helicopters over the weekend, state media said on Sunday, in an exercise aiming at showcasing its ability to “defend Syria’s shores against any possible aggression”.

Syrian television aired video of a variety of missiles being fired from launchers on land and from ships and showed the Syrian Defence Minister Dawud Abdallah Rahijia in attendance.

“Naval Forces conducted an operational live fire exercise on Saturday, using missiles launched from the sea and coast, helicopters and missile boats, simulating a scenario of repelling a sudden attack from the sea,” Syrian news agency SANA said, adding manoeuvres would continue for several days.

Opposition figures have been calling for a no-fly zone and NATO strikes against Syrian forces, similar to those carried out in Libya last year which enabled rebel ground forces to end the rule of Muammar Gaddafi.

But while President Bashar al-Assad has faced sanctions and international condemnation over his crackdown on dissent which has left thousands dead, major Western and Arab powers have shied away from the idea of direct military action.

Foreign Policy: A town in northwestern Syria has become the creative center of the revolt against President Bashar al-Assad. Since the beginning of the uprising, the residents of Kafr Anbel have drawn signs that skewer the Assad regime and express outrage that the world has not done more to stop the killing in Syria.

The signs come in two basic varieties. Some are cartoons, often drawing their inspiration from Western movies or TV shows, which lampoon the Syrian government and its allies, notably Russian President Vladimir Putin. Others are straightforward, text-only banners that call for NATO intervention in Syria or arming the rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA). Many of the signs are written in English.

Raed Fares, an activist in Kafr Anbel, explained to FP that the town’s residents chose to draw in English, rather than Arabic, explicitly to reach an international audience. “It’s very important to send our message to all the world,” he said. “And English is the public language.”

Reuters reports: Syria’s conflict spilled further into Lebanon on Saturday when mortar fire from government forces crashed into villages in the north, killing two women and a man after rebels crossed the border for refuge, residents said.

In contrast with Turkey, which openly harbors rebels fighting to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Lebanon was not expected to respond militarily and has played down the effect of regular clashes along the frontier.

But rebels have used north Lebanon as a base and Assad’s forces have at times bombed villages and even crossed the border in pursuit of militants, threatening to inflame tensions in Lebanon given a long history of Syrian domination there.

Residents of Lebanon’s Wadi Khaled region said several mortar bombs hit farm buildings five to 20 km (3 to 12 miles) from the border at around 2 a.m. At midday villagers reported more explosions and said they heard gunfire close to the border.

In the village of al-Mahatta, a house was destroyed, killing a 16-year-old girl and wounding a two-year old and a four-year old, family members told Reuters. A 25-year-old woman and a man were killed in nearby villages, residents said.

The Lebanese army issued a brief statement about the incident. There was no immediate response from the prime minister or the foreign ministry, both of whom have expressed fears that Lebanon could be dragged into the conflict.

Joshua Landis answers this question: Absolutely important – The Tlass family has been at the heart of the regime from the beginning. They are the keystone of the Sunni-Alawi alliance that has cemented the regime for 4 decades.

Abdul Halim Khaddam and the Tlass family were the two leading Sunni families in the state from the beginning, when Hafiz al-Assad, the architect of the regime, built the structures that have endured since. Bashar preserved the blueprint drawn up by his father.

Vice President Khaddam defected in 2005. His departure sent a shudder through the regime, but this time is different. The Tlas defection sends the sign that the regime is done for. No longer is this uprising merely about angry young men in the countryside. It has reached to the very top. The elite Sunnis are looking for the exit door – but it will be hard to replicate this defection. Manaf got the golden parachute into Paris. His family is all out – his father, brother, wife and children. He planned this carefully. He has the power and the means.

Other generals have no bodyguards, no visas, no money…. It will be a long and painful process for most to defect.

What is more the Alawite officers have their backs to the wall.

The regime will not just collapse. This is not “The Tipping Point” but it is very significant for morale. It sends a message: the game is up.

A statement by General Manaf Tlass: As issued by international press and media, I have just left Syria.

With the will to remain faithful to my military principles and loving feelings towards Syria, I have always tried to fulfill my duty with rightness, in order to preserve unity for Syria and its people.

I did not joined the armed forces to see this army harm its own people, without giving systematically a chance to political solutions.

Thus, because I was in complete opposition with the unjustified violence and crimes committed by Assad’s regime in the past months, I was progressively dismissed from my place of duty in the armed forces.

Today, I call for all my comrades in armed forces, whatever their rank in the hierarchy, who are dragged into this fight against their Syrian fellows and against their own ideals, to end supporting this regime.

I recognize the legitimacy of the fight of the opposition members to the regime, particularly the ones on the ground. In this respect, let me be grateful to those who made it possible for me to leave the Syrian territory where my own person and family were threatened.

In the coming days, I will make a statement on my motives and the possibilities that the future offers me.

Long life to Syria!

General Manaf Tlas

The Los Angeles Times reports: A New York-based public relations firm tried to help the Syrian government “brand” its reforms last year as media reported its crackdown on protesters, according to an email released Friday by WikiLeaks.

The firm, Brown Lloyd James, had earlier helped arrange a rosy profile of Syrian first lady Asma Assad in Vogue magazine that praised her as “the freshest and most magnetic of first ladies.” It had been paid $5,000 a month for that work, according to a Foreign Agents Registration Act document.

Months later, in a memo last May to one of her aides, the firm advised Syria that it needed to buff up its image abroad as decidedly unflattering stories of mass arrests and alleged killings spread in the press.

“Mass arrests of activists, protesters and in some cases males older than 15 have skyrocketed, with thousands held in detention centers where human rights activists say they have been subjected to physical and mental abuse,” the Los Angeles Times reported eight days before the firm sent its memo. A later article said dissidents claimed a mass grave filled with slain protesters had been found in the south.

The public relations firm said Syria suffered from “an imbalance in its communications approach” that had failed to reassure the Syrian people and outsiders that it was genuinely pursuing reform.

“Syria seems to be communicating with two hands. One is offering reform and the other, rule of law. Rule of law is a fist. Reform is an open hand. Right now the fist appears to the outside world, and probably to many Syrians, as though it is ten times bigger than the outstretched palm,” the firm wrote in its email, which WikiLeaks dated to May 19, 2011. “They must be brought into better balance.”

Brown Lloyd James added that the Obama administration had not demanded regime change and clearly wanted the leadership in Syria to survive, saying “criticism has been relatively muted.” It warned, however, that the U.S. tone had grown harsher in recent weeks and could be nearing a tipping point.