The Syrian government's battle to put down the mass uprising that began last year is moving forward. The situation has become "better," President Bashar al-Assad said in a television interview. Assad disparaged the idea of foreign countries creating buffer zones in Syrian territory and said that citizens who have fled the country and officials who have defected are helping "cleanse" Syria. "I can summarise in one phrase: we are progressing, the situation on the ground is better but we have not yet won. This will take more time," Assad said.