So now we know. The citizens of Daraa appealed for help, and the army obliged. For what it's worth, that's the government's line from Damascus.

"In response to the calls for help from the citizens of Daraa," the official Syrian news agency says, army units entered the city "to restore tranquillity, security and normal life to the citizens" and put an end to "the operations of killings, vandalism, and horrifying by extremist terrorist groups".

It adds that "the army units were able to arrest several members from the groups and confiscated huge quantities of weapons and ammunition".

The agency also says the Syrian Bar Association has "asked a legal committee to study the situation of crimes perpetrated by a number of Arab and international TV stations and individuals who have contributed to the media forgery and acts of instigation to destabilise Syria".

The committee has begun collecting evidence and documents to support lawsuits "in front of the international and national competent courts against those who had made the unfair acts".

Meanwhile, the interior ministry has issued the names of 38 policemen who it says were injured by "armed groups" on Saturday. Four of them are photographed in hospital. The ministry says 286 members of the security forces have now been injured "since the beginning of the events in Syria".

The official news agency acknowledges the gravity of "the events" (as it calls them) and quotes Rafiq Nasrallah of the Beirut-based International Center for Media and Studies (sympathetic to Syria) as saying that "what Syria faces today might be the most dangerous battle imposed on it". The report continues:

"Nasrallah asserted that what is taking place today is not related to reforms and that the conspiracy against Syria started in 2003 when US Army occupied Iraq as Syria rejected to be part of that occupation.

"Nasrallah spoke of the ongoing disinformation and fabrications campaign against Syria and of huge amounts of money paid by US bodies and by others to some Syrian figures and sections under the pretext of supporting democracy as to destabilise Syria."

There's also a generous helping of foreign conspiracy theory from the Tehran Times in Iran. Quoting a Syrian writer, Colette Khoury, it says Syria is paying the price "for saying no to Israel and America for a long time". "We are proud of belonging to Syria, the only independent state that refused to give up resistance," Khoury says. "It isn’t a matter of reform, not any more. It is about Syria and the Syrian people."

The Tehran Times adds that Syrian authorities blame armed groups and foreign elements for the violence:

"Damascus has repeatedly denied allegations that security forces are responsible for the death of protesters, saying they have been given clear instructions not to hurt civilians."

Posted by Brian Whitaker, 26 April 2011