I agree with all your points. While I have no reason to doubt that political protests in Syria did occur early in 2011, the fact that they quickly morphed into heavily-armed militias that took over large swaths of the country is telling. It wasn't a home-grown revolution, it was an attempt by the USA-Israel-Turkey-Saudi Arabia axis to destroy the Syrian government.

It's likewise clear that, despite that overwhelming interference by foreign nations, very large numbers of Syrians support or are at worst ambivalent about the Assad government. Otherwise that government would've been overthrown long ago.