Syria's civil war enters its second year

BEIRUT -- On the second anniversary of Syria's uprising, there were only small protests and a few firecrackers defiantly popping in the capital of Damascus -- a grim contrast to the early days when crowds of demonstrators danced to the drums of rebellion against President Bashar Assad.

Syrians on Friday marked the start of the revolt by saying they feared for their country's future amid a grinding civil war that has killed tens of thousands, displaced millions, wrecked whole neighborhoods in cities and towns, and turned neighbor against neighbor.

Assad has been digging in, mobilizing loyal forces for a protracted battle, while Western powers remain opposed to arming the Syrian opposition, even if Britain and France this week began pushing for lifting a European Union arms embargo.

Rebels have made slow progress in recent months, seizing large swaths of the countryside, particularly in the north and sparsely populated east, while Assad managed to protect his seat of power, Damascus, and keep control of parts of Aleppo and the city of Homs.

"Bashar Assad really does not feel that he is about to lose anytime soon," said Salman Shaikh, an analyst at the Brookings Doha Center. "He feels there is no Western resolve up to now. He feels he's got enough forces."

Most rebels are Sunni Muslims, the majority sect in Syria, while the country's Christian and Shia Muslim minorities appear to have sided largely with Assad, a member of the Alawites, an offshoot of Shia Islam.

"The country has forever changed," said an 18-year-old opposition activist speaking from Damascus who to be identified only as Abu Qais, for fear of regime reprisals. "There's too much hate. People have changed."

Khalid Saleh, a spokesman for the main political opposition group in exile, the Syrian National Coalition, was more optimistic. He said those trying to bring down Assad have momentum on their side.

"Probably within the next six months, we will have the government in Damascus," Saleh said from Istanbul. After fighting ends, Syria will have to go through a healing process of several years, he said. "I am definitely optimistic," he added.