Assad Says War Turning in Regime's Favor

President Bashar Assad said Sunday that the war that has torn Syria apart for three years and cost more than 150,000 lives is turning in the government's favor, state news agency SANA reported.

"This is a turning point in the crisis, both militarily in terms of the army's achievements in the war against terror, and socially in terms of national reconciliation processes and growing awareness of the truth behind the (attacks) targeting the country," he said.

Syria's army has made a series of advances in recent months, overrunning opposition bastions near the Lebanese border and in the central province of Homs.

"The state is trying to restore security and stability in the main areas that the terrorists have struck," said Assad, adding "we will go after their positions and sleeper cells later."

Since the start of a revolt against Assad in 2011, Damascus has blamed all violence in the country on a foreign-backed "terrorist" plot, denying the existence of any grassroots movement for political change.

Like its allies Iran and Lebanon's Hizbullah, the government has said the violence in Syria is rooted in a bid to break the anti-Israel "resistance axis."

Assad said the country "is not only being targeted because of its geo-political significance... but because of its historic role in the region and its big influence on the Arab street."

Syria, he said, "is subject to a bid to take control of its independent decision-making, and an attempt to change its policy from one that suits the Syrian people's interests, rather than the interests of the United States and the West's interests in the region."

On Sunday, Assad reiterated his belief that Israel "has played a key role in supporting the terrorist groups."

Hizbullah, which has sent thousands of fighters into Syria, has played a key role in helping turn the tide in Assad's favor.

A series of truces have also been agreed, mainly in southern Damascus and the outskirts of the capital.

The ceasefires came after months of suffocating army sieges that had led to the deaths of scores of people, as a result of medical and food shortages.

The agreements stipulate rebels should hand over their heavy weapons in exchange for aid deliveries, but opposition activists in some areas where truces have been reached have accused the regime of violating the deals.

Syria's military conflict broke out after the regime unleashed a heavy-handed crackdown against an Arab Spring-inspired protest movement.