Why It's in Bashar's Interest to Exaggerate Golan Deaths

Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff offer some context about casualty figures on the Golan Heights:

A cautionary note is necessary. The IDF has no real way to estimate, in real time, the number of fatalities on the other side. But the Syrian government - through its media - has a clear interest in exaggerating the number of casualties to have the border incidents overshadow Syrian President Bashar Assad's ongoing massacre of anti-government protesters. Just yesterday, according to opposition forces, at least 35 Syrians were killed by their own security forces during protests in the north. Over the weekend, more than 70 were killed across the country.

It was difficult to take seriously the accusations on Syrian television of an Israeli massacre while, day after day, the deaths caused by the Syrian government are ignored. Apparently at least some of the fatalities in the Golan Heights yesterday were injured by a fire in the Golan town of Quneitra a few hundred meters from the border and were not directly related to the IDF.