Journalist claims foreign press \'distorting\' war in Syria

A Syrian journalist has revealed indications of an international media campaign on Syria A Syrian journalist has revealed indications of an international media campaign aimed at distorting the facts on the ground in Syria to blame the Syrian Army for bloodshed, Press TV reports.
Rafik Lutf, member of Arab Journalists Union in the United States, told a Press TV correspondent in the Syrian capital Damascus on Saturday that the CNN, Qatar-based broadcaster, Al Jazeera, and other Western and Arabic satellite news channels were forwarding the cause with the help of armed groups.
He said, through fabricating and falsifying events, the campaign was seeking to accuse the Army of violating the rights of and terrorizing civilians.
Lutf had felt suspicious about live streaming of a camera in the city of Homs in western Syria and thus started to follow the coverage.
After 12 hours, a plume of smoke rose from the area where the camera was directed to. CNN and Al Jazeera crew were the first to arrive at the scene.
When CNN correspondent, Arwa Damon, went live to talk about the explosion, which had struck a pipeline in the city, the news channel broadcast some images that had been shot by the camera before the blast.
The coincidence lead Lutf to the conclusion that the CNN crew had known about the explosion before it even happened.
“I was able to figure out the live streaming of a camera, which showed that the CNN is involved in the explosions of oil pipelines in Homs. At first, I did not know who’s filming it, but, later on, I discovered that the fixed camera was for the CNN. And Al Jazeera was also involved in this matter…,” he said.
Through this, our correspondent concluded, the CNN was trying to make believe that the Syrian government was shelling Homs.
Our reporter said Al Jazeera, with the help of some correspondents in Homs, also faked gunshots during live calls with its reporters to falsely show that the Army is shelling the city.
Syria has been experiencing unrest since mid-March 2011. The violence has claimed the lives of hundreds of people, including many security forces.
Damascus blames ‘outlaws, saboteurs, and armed terrorist groups’ for the unrest, asserting that it is being orchestrated from abroad.
The West and the Syrian opposition, however, accuse the government of killing protesters.