US Intelligence Officials: 'Assad's regime cohesive & learned how to deal with this type of insurgency'

(Reuters) - "Despite some military defections, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's inner circle remains cohesive and the 16-month conflict with rebels is likely to be a drawn-out struggle, senior U.S. intelligence officials said on Tuesday.That assessment appears to dash any U.S. hopes that Assad, whose ouster Washington has called for, will fall soon of his own accord....

....U.S. intelligence agencies, watching closely for cracks in Assad's inner circle, do not see them so far."The regime inner circle and those at the next level still seem to be holding fairly firm in support of the regime and Assad," one intelligence official said on condition of anonymity.Assad said on Tuesday that Syria was in a "state of war" and snubbed those calling for him to step aside, saying the West "takes and never gives and this has been proven at every stage.....
U.S. intelligence officials said defections and desertions from Assad's forces had mainly been "low to mid-level ranks" and had included relatively few officers. They did not provide specific numbers.....
"Our overall assessment in terms of the fighting would be that we are still seeing the military regime forces fairly cohesive, they've learned some lessons over the last year and a half about how to deal with this kind of insurgency," an intelligence official said.The insurgency is also getting stronger, which sets the stage for a protracted conflict, the official said...."