Speaking from Washington, David Mack, the former US deputy assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, said that, with few UN monitors and limited international media in the country, it is difficult to “entangle a lot of the propaganda from the reality”.

“Let me give a specific example. Although the attacks that took place in Idlib are clearly those of people who have themselves been under violence from the Syrian government and can arguably be said that are taking up arms to defend themselves, he told al Jazeera.

Meanwhile, the rocket attack on the Syrian Central Bank in Damascus, he said, “would ordinarily be considered an act of terrorism, an attack upon a civilian infrastructure”.