"It began in earnest nearly three weeks ago with an aerial and artillery assault on the town’s 30,000 inhabitants..." So basically, it was a war by Syrian regime forces and Hizbullah against the entire civilians of the city, who presumably all stayed behind. OK. Now I understand. What I like about Western coverage of Syrian conflict is that they don't even try: they have no qualms about being nakedly propagandistic, which is a good thing, of course.