Damascus, Syria -- As both sides in Syria's bloody civil war claimed advances, one high-ranking member of President Bashar al-Assad's regime expressed confidence in ultimate victory.
Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal al-Maqdad, in an interview Wednesday, said the battle is going very well for the regime.
"We are winning. We have
already won," al-Maqdad told CNN's Frederik Pleitgen. "You are in
Damascus, you are aware of what is happening around Damascus. (The
rebels) threatened to have Damascus more than one year ago, and they are
not there. We are still here."
Rebel leaders and fighters see it differently.
A suicide attack at a regime military facility
left at least 20 soldiers dead this week in Homs, and just last week
government forces were using artillery and planes against rebels in the
capital's southern suburbs.
The opposition activist
organization Local Coordination Committees of Syria said 136 people were
killed in war-related violence across Syria on Tuesday, including 47 in
Damascus and its suburbs, and 32 in Aleppo. CNN cannot independently
verify those figures.
The rebels last weekend claimed to have launched an offensive against the capital. The regime denies it is under siege.
In the western town of
Tal Kalakh, bullets have stopped flying. But it's not because either
side has won, it's because they've battled to a draw and have entered into a wobbly cease-fire.
The United Nations on Tuesday estimated 70,000 people have died in almost two years of fighting.
The regime would welcome the opportunity to begin negotiating a broader peace, al-Maqdad told CNN.
"We hope that those who
are willing to stop the destruction of Syria come to the national
dialogue without conditions to sit together as Syrians and their Syrian
leadership and sort out our problems together," he said.
When asked if al-Assad
would give up power if he were voted out, al-Maqdad said, "Absolutely,
but I assure you at least he still enjoys a majority in Syria."
Al-Maqdad defended the regime's shelling, calling it a reaction to the opposition's violence.
"This is not our
option," he said. "This is the option they imposed on us to defend our
own people and our own cities. What we are demanding is a stop to all
these actions and to come to the table where we discuss all our
grievances together."
Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib, head of the opposition Syrian National Coalition, met earlier this month in Munich, Germany, with U.S. Vice President Joe Biden. The U.S. has already recognized the rebels as the legitimate rulers in Syria.
"President Obama and I
and nearly all of our partners and allies are convinced that President
Assad, a tyrant hell-bent on clinging to power, is no longer fit to lead
the Syrian people and he must go," Biden said, according to a
transcript of his Munich speech released by the White House.
"The opposition
continues to grow stronger. And as the Syrian people have their chance
to forge their own future, they will continue to find a partner in the
United States of America," he said.
The rebellion against
al-Assad's government began in earnest in May 2011 as a wave of
uprisings spread across the Arab world, including Tunisia, Algeria,
Libya and Egypt.
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