The Syrian conflict has reached a stalemate, the country's deputy prime minister has said.
In an interview with the Guardian, Qadri Jamil said President Bashar al-Assad's government will call for a ceasefire at a long-delayed conference in Geneva on the state's future.
Jamil said that neither side was strong enough to win the conflict, which has lasted two years and caused the death of more than 100,000 people.
He said that neither the armed opposition nor the regime is capable of defeating the other side, adding that this zero balance of forces will not change for a while, the report said.
Meanwhile, Jamil, who is in charge of country's finances, said that the Syrian economy had lost about 100 billion dollars during the war.
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Leaders of Syria's armed opposition have repeatedly refused to go to what is called Geneva Two unless Assad first resigns.
He repeatedly stressed Syria was changing, but it needed support rather than pressure.
Jamil said that last week's UN report on the 21 August chemical weapons attack which killed more than 1,000 people was 'not thoroughly objective'.
