Even Amid Uproar Over Alleged Chemical Attack, Syria Regime Seems Confident It Has Upper Hand

The signs would seem bad for President Bashar Assad. Blasts echo all day long over the Syrian capital as troops battle rebels entrenched on its eastern doorstep. The government admits the economy is devastated. Allegations of a horrific chemical attack have given new life to calls for international action against his regime.

Yet the regime appears more confident than ever that it weathered the worst and has gained the upper hand in the country's civil war, even if it takes years for victory.

Deputy Prime Minister Qadri Jamil traces a slow arc in the air with his hand to show how the country has reached a turning point in "the events" _ the most common euphemism here for 2 1/2 years of bloodshed.

"If the previous trajectory was all negative, it is now on a new course of a gradual reduction of violence, until it goes back to zero," he told The Associated Press.

"The turning point changes the course of things, but it will take a while," he said. "I don't think the path downward will take as long as the path of escalation did."

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