I don’t believe that. I’ll research further. All news coming for western media is BS. Are you sure your friends are not connected to the opposition? If they are strictly online they very well could be. Hasbara exists by the Syrian opposition too.
My wife’s workmate is Syrian.
Her husband is American and she goes back occasionally to visit her family. She has dual U.S. Syrian citizenship.
She supports Assad as does her family and everyone she knows.