The Inimitable Tiff

Syria’s uprising seems to have moved into a more complicated, confusing phase in recent weeks. Protests have appeared to revive in some locations, and armed elements of the opposition have seemed emboldened by defections from the security forces.

Meanwhile, bombing attacks in Damascus, the capital, have killed scores of people over the past month. The government has said that foreign-backed terrorists were responsible; the opposition claims the government carried out the bombings itself in a cynical effort to sully the protesters’ image.

In the latest turn, the Arab League on Tuesday denounced attacks on its observers in Syria, who arrived last month to monitor an agreement brokered by the league that was meant to end the violence. The league’s secretary-general, Nabil el-Arabi, said that both loyalists and government opponents had carried out attacks, but that in the end the Syrian government was to blame for failing to provide for the security of the mission. He said the government was “totally responsible” for protecting its 165 observers.