Syria's Assad confident unrest over, admits errors

DAMASCUS — Embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said the violence roiling his country is coming to an end and admitted his security forces made mistakes in trying to tame a two-month revolt.An opposition group said dialogue was the only way to end the violence which has killed more than 850 people and seen 8,000 more arrested as part of a crackdown on pro-democracy protests, according to rights watchdogs.The international community, meanwhile, appeared divided on how to tackle the Syrian crisis, with Switzerland joining an EU-led sanctions regime and Russia warning it would oppose any UN-backed intervention with forces.Assad said the unrest was ending at a meeting with a delegation of dignitaries from the Medan commercial zone of Damascus, according to Wednesday's edition of the Arabic-language daily Al-Watan, close to the government."President Assad gave assurances that Syria had overcome the crisis it went through and that events (shaking the country) were coming to an end," the private newspaper quoted him as saying, without specifying when the meeting took place.Assad also acknowledged wrongdoing on the part of security services, attributing it to lack of training for such circumstances which, he said, are usually handled by police."The role of the security services is to gather information, analyse it and hand it over to the proper authorities," a member of the delegation quoted the president as saying.In Vienna, the leader of a Syrian opposition group said Wednesday that dialogue was the only way to end violence in the country, one of the most autocratic in the Middle East.Assad is the "only one who can push Syria out of this crisis," notably by engaging reforms, said Marc Hussein, co-founder of the Reform Party of Syria, a US-based opposition party created in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks."I don't believe that Assad is a criminal," the London-based lawyer told a news conference.Despite the brutal crackdown, Syria's opposition has pushed forth with pro-democracy protests and, in a

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