When New York Times cites "residents" as source of its information: Anne Barnard on Syria

Look at this sentence: "and residents have reported deaths and casualties as well as the use of incendiary bombs". But this is what curious: since 2011, the New York Times has not been able to find any "residents" who reported deaths and casualties as well as the use of incedeniary bombs by Syrian rebels. What gives?  Will there be one professor in some journalism school in the US who will finally teach a course on Western Media Coverage of the Syrian Conflict: Lessons for Journalism 101?