So how does Anne Barnard quantify and document her assumptions (from Beirut, mind you) about Syrian public opinion?

Let me first begin by asserting yet again that I firmly believe that the Syrian regime and the Syrian armed groups are both capable of the worst crimes and atrocities and both are capable of using whatever weapons at their disposal.  "The Assad government has so far evaded more formal scrutiny because of political, legal and technical obstacles to assigning blame for the attacks — a situation that feels surreal to many Syrians under the bombs, who say it is patently clear the government drops them."  Notice that Western correspondents in Beirut are allowed to editorialize and even sound angry in their dispatches in the case of Syria if they anger is directed in the "right direction". Can you imagine such language used against Israel or against Saudi regime?  Now who are the many Syrians? She won't say but they are very very many and they skype with her all the time.