The GCC and Turkey turn to NATO

• In the columns of Le Monde, photojournalist Mani reports on the testimony given by a resident of Homs. He alleges to have been under the impression that a massacre was in progress on Ansar al-Street and "decided to reach the house under attack by drilling holes in the walls of adjoining houses. Through those openings, he claims to have seen children being massacred. He added that the attackers were seven men in military uniforms belonging to loyalist forces "(sic).

• The Cairo correspondent of Le Monde, Claire Talon, describes the Egyptian capital as the new sanctuary of the Syrian opposition. She cites four personalities: Mahmoud Hamad (who stated on Al-Jazeera to have personally witnessed the Syrian Air Force bombarding Damascus), actress Louise Abdelkrim (who evoked her sleepless nights in Damascus filled with the screeches from the loud speakers chanting the Presidens’t name), Imad Ghalioun (the cousin of the SNC president), Helen Al-Dayem (who put at 50 000 the number of Syrians recently killed by the regime).

• Le Figaro columnist Girard warns against a reversal of Bashar al-Assad, which could bring about an Iraqi-like situation. The Syrians have nothing to gain from a regime change, he says, because anarchy would be worse than dictatorship.

• Gudrun Harrer, who must be oblivious to the human rights situation in Qatar, expounds in Der Standard (Austria) that the Arab League has become an actively progressive organization under the enlightened influence of the Emir of Qatar.

• The Orthodox Patriarch of Syria, Ignacio IV said in ABC (Spain) that Christians stand behind Bashar al-Assad not because they fear the Salafists, but their project. Christians accept to live among Muslims and believe that Assad is the best president of the region.

• This weekend, former Observer Anwar Malek was interviewed by the Spanish press, which is just as disinterested about his background and personality as its Western counterparts.

• The reporter for the Financial Times Europe, Michael Peel, noted that there were only a few dozen anti-government demonstrators in Aleppo, but that the economy was severely affected: power cuts and fuel shortages.

• Washington Post journalist Colum Lynch perceives the Russian veto as a "putinisation" of Russian foreign policy. The author overlooks Moscow’s arguments to which he attaches no importance, but dwells instead on what he considers to be Putin’s strategy to increase his influence.

• The Daily Star (Lebanon) notes that the number of Syrian refugees registered with the United Nations in Lebanon has now reached 6 290. However, the newspaper fails to point out that many of these people have lived in Lebanon for a long time and have registered as "refugees" to receive material aid. In the same article, the newspaper reports that Sheikh Zakaria Masri staged a demonstration in Tripoli (northern Lebanon) against Russia, China and Hezbollah, during which he denounced Assad for believing in and seeking to impose atheism.