This is a fascinating and up to date appreciation of the real situation in Syria by Patrick Cockburn Sunday 16 December 2012 in The Independent newspaper

This short extract is telling! However please read the whole article in the link before giving comments.

"The picture of Syria most common believed abroad is of the rebels closing in on the capital as the Assad government faces defeat in weeks or, at most, a few months. The Secretary General of Nato, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, said last week that the regime is "approaching collapse". The foreign media consensus is that the rebels are making sweeping gains on all fronts and the end may be nigh. But when one reaches Damascus, it is to discover that the best informed Syrians and foreign diplomats say, on the contrary, that the most recent rebel attacks in the capital had been thrown back by a government counteroffensive. They say that the rebel territorial advances, which fuelled speculation abroad that the Syrian government might implode, are partly explained by a new Syrian army strategy to pull back from indefensible outposts and bases and concentrate troops in cities and towns."

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/syria-the-descent-into-holy-war-8420309.html