Syria’s Bashar Al-Assad requires support of international leaders

The UK government and mainstream media say Syria president Bashar Al-Assad is killing his own people in Syria. 

According to a recent BBC report, Assad is giving shelter to 1.6m internally displaced Syrian refugees in Latakia, who are well looked after. Is he killing his own people and saving their lives at the same time?

It seems the strongest case against Assad possibly amounts to an argument that he should have given up territory to rebels rather than attempt to retake it with inevitable loss of civilian lives.