The official regime media has not acknowledged as of Sunday the heavy losses incurred by government forces and its allied militias in Aleppo, and that Syrian opposition forces were able to break the siege imposed on the eastern districts of Aleppo.
The state-run SANA news agencies and other local and some Arab media — especially those supported by Iran — are still discussing the encirclement of those they call “terrorists” and say that regime forces are still killing hundreds of fighters and expelling them from the military academies which the opposition seized in south Aleppo, most prominently the Artillery School.
In a report on Sunday, SANA quoted a military source as saying that “These terrorist groups were not able to break the encirclement imposed upon the terrorists in the eastern districts of the city of Aleppo. The media participating in spilling Syrian blood is waging a wide psychological war and broadcasting dozens of fabricated videos and pictures to affect the morale of citizens, mislead public opinion and cover up the large number of dead and losses that the terrorists have suffered in the fighting today.”
This official narrative sparked ridicule and discontent from the regime’s loyalists, even before its opponents. On television screens and social media, they saw Syrian opposition forces posting images alongside ammunition left by regime soldiers before fleeing the site of the clashes.
Yesterday evening, opposition forces’ media offices published images inside the Artillery School — one of the most important regime bases in Aleppo — and images of IDs belonging to soldiers killed in the fighting.
Regarding the breaking of the siege, which the regime refuses to discuss, its first results appeared today with the arrival of the first shipment of aid to the areas which were under complete siege by the regime.
Through following a number of regime loyalist pages on Facebook, the loss of trust of regime supporters in their media is apparent. One of the best-known loyalist pages accused regime media of treason.
The page, “Syria Corruption in the Age of Reform,” which has more than 180,000 followers, criticized regime media about how it had dealt with the events in Aleppo.
Regime loyalists said that at the time the opposition forces were achieving serious gains against regime forces, official regime media was broadcasting soap operas and global news, such as reports of two people being wounded in Belgium in a machete attack.
This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
