General Robert Mood, head of the UN observers mission in Syria (UNSMIS) created by Resolution 2043 of 21 April 2012, has issued several statements stressing that the return to peace and the implementation of the Annan plan call for sustained efforts by both parties, government and armed opposition.

In each of his statements, he attested to the cooperation of the Syrian forces and refrained from any comment regarding the cooperation or lack thereof of the armed opposition.

Here is the breakdown of the number of victims for the period from April 12 to 25, provided by the Syrian government and currently being checked by UNSMIS:

• Members of military and police forces killed: over 200 (the fate of captured soldiers is unknown)
• Civilians killed by armed opposition: 189
• Members of military and police forces injured: 571
• Civilians injured by the armed opposition: 291
• citizens kidnapped by gangs: over 200
• Lootings: 144
• Bombings: 102
• Bombs defused: 47

The authorities do not provide statistics on casualties among the armed groups. According to the local media, fifty insurgents—some Syrian but mostly foreigners (especially Iraqi and North African/European dual nationals)—were killed during the same period.

The phenomenon of kidnapping for ransom and looting is new. Since the second Russian and Chinese veto, the West has stopped paying underhandedly the felons who had been recruited to swell the ranks of the "Syrian Free Army." Without any money, but still in possession of the weapons that were delivered to them, these individuals have grouped into gangs dedicated to committing crimes and offenses with no political connotations, mainly in the suburbs of major cities.

The number of bombings must be put into perspective. Most explosive charges were low.

To be noted is the fact that, in the period under review, as had occurred during the Arab League Monitoring Mission, the highest number of victims is to be found among the security forces and civilians. This finding validates the Syrian government’s version that the country is confronted with a foreign war of low intensity and belies that of the West and the Gulf monarchies according to which a peaceful opposition is being quelled in blood at the hands of the security forces.

The most reliable source covering the events is the daily bulletin put out by the Syrian Center documentation that Voltaire Network has been posting since mid-February in English and Arabic. This NGO has a network of correspondents throughout the country and seeks to objectively verify the information released by the Syrian government as that issued by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights established by the Muslim Brotherhood in London .