"I hope we are witnessing the end of the story..."

"... “I hope we are witnessing the end of the story,” she said in an hourlong interview, during which a reporter was allowed into Syria for only a few hours. “I think now we’ve passed the most dangerous moment. I hope so, I think so.”... ...
“They want to finish everything this week,” a human rights advocate in the city, Syria’s third largest, said by telephone. “No one in the regime has a clear policy. They cannot keep this strategy for a long time. We need political solutions, not more tanks.”...
Amnesty International said it had documented the names of 580 people killed since the uprising began in mid-March. Ms. Shaaban said nearly 100 soldiers and members of security forces were also killed by armed militants, whom she accused of manipulating “the legitimate demands of the people.” While administration officials in the United States and even some activists have acknowledged that some protesters have resorted to arms, they call them a minority...
Administration officials have said that Ms. Shaaban and Vice President Farouk al-Sharaa have seemed more receptive to calls for reform,... ...Ms. Shaaban said she had been asked to open talks with dissidents. Last week, she said, she met with Michel Kilo, Aref Dalila, Salim Kheirbek and Louay Hussein, all veteran activists, and held out the prospect of a freer press, political parties and an electoral law..."