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Russia is a big player in the Syrian conflict and it's difficult to know what to believe—which is Russ Baker's point.

Journalist Russ Baker frequently digs into the stories behind the headlines, and he's asking the tough questions about recent news out of Syria that seems designed to draw the U.S. into a "humanitarian" intervention. As we know, there was massive disinformation in both the Gulf War and the Iraq war, aided by the sloppiness and gullibility of our media. So it's important to ask the right questions. From his site, Whowhatwhy.com:

All these reports were based almost entirely on the word from activists on one side in the conflict, not from journalists or neutral observers. That is not journalism. Why are there not more journalists actually in these places reporting? In the past, reporters always managed to get into conflict zones. And, notwithstanding Syrian government controls on access to these areas and the obvious physical dangers attendant to work in such places, news organizations should be able to hire Syrians who will be diligent, careful and precise. This fast-moving story has already led to a follow-up from BBC here that raises questions about the earlier assertion of culpability. ... BBC is backing off somewhat from its earlier report that seemed sure who was responsible for the civilian killings—only the one side. This is commendable as far as it goes. But BBC jumped the gun, so to speak, in other ways.

For the full report, see the original article at the link above.