Damascus , Syria ( CNN ) -- A top adviser to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad defended the regime 's actions Tuesday , arguing that the government is not attacking peaceful protesters , despite widespread witness reports of a fierce crackdown against displays of dissent . `` Security forces are there against armed groups , '' Bouthaina Shaaban told CNN in an interview , referring to the shadowy entities the regime has consistently said are responsible for the violence sweeping the Arab country since mid-March . `` We 're not targeting demonstrators . I think peaceful demonstrators have made their point , and they are making their point every day . We have no problem with that . '' Shaaban said the government would like `` to talk to peaceful demonstrators '' and is not opposed to peaceful protests . What it wants to do , she said , is `` isolate armed militants . '' She and other Syrian government officials have not provided more detail about the armed groups and their financing . Shaaban said that while demonstrators have `` legitimate grievances , '' there are extremists who are using protests `` as a cover to incite sectarian violence in Syria '' and are badly hurting the economy . Bloodshed has engulfed Syria ever since demonstrators took to the streets in the southern city of Daraa to protest the arrests of young people for scribbling anti-government graffiti . Witnesses reported a tough crackdown against the demonstrators . That sparked more protests and tough security reactions across the country . The videos and witness accounts filtering out of Syria of the security actions have spurred international outrage toward the regime . Rami Abdelrahman , head of the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights , told CNN Tuesday that 1,342 civilians and 343 security personnel have died since the protests erupted . Shaaban said Tuesday that more than 500 police officers and government troops and police have been killed in the violence , in which `` religious extremists '' are `` directing purposeful assassinations . '' `` They are the ones who are killing children , who are killing women , who are maiming people , who are cutting people into pieces , '' she said , referring to the `` extremists . '' CNN can not independently verify the death tolls . However , sources in Turkey and Lebanon can account for the many Syrians who 've fled to their countries to escape violence . The Turkish government said Tuesday that 10,757 Syrian refugees have crossed the border . It also said 441 Syrians had returned to Syria voluntarily in the past two days . Security sources in Lebanon told CNN that about 1,000 Syrians have crossed into Lebanon near the town of Hermel . When asked whether the crisis would have been different had security forces not acted violently during the uprising 's start in Daraa , Shaaban said she thinks `` there are lots of fabrications about the security forces '' and that many security forces were ordered not to carry weapons in Daraa . The al-Assad family has ruled Syria since 1971 , with Bashar al-Assad taking power after the death of his father Hafez al-Assad in 2000 . The government is dominated by the Alawite minority in a country with a majority Sunni Muslim population . Alawites are an offshoot of Shiite Muslims . Last week , Bashar al-Assad held out a promise of reforms and a `` national dialogue '' in a speech that was met with widespread skepticism . As international and domestic outrage festered , Syria 's embattled government allowed a group of activists and intellectuals , including some it had previously jailed , to hold a conference on democratic reform Monday at a Damascus hotel . State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Tuesday that the United States was `` pleased '' to see the Syrian opposition was allowed to protest peacefully and has been given some `` breathing space . '' It was a `` step in the right direction , but more needs to be done , '' Nuland said , adding that `` a key element of Syria moving in the right direction will be that this continues to be the case . '' Louay Hussein , a writer and onetime political prisoner , said `` we must change this tyrannical regime to a democratic , civilian one '' and explained that `` how that transition happens is a question this conference is trying to address . '' Hussein said the conference would `` not necessarily '' find an answer to that question , `` but that is the big question in this country now . '' About 200 Syrian dissidents gathered in the hotel ballroom , including several signatories of a 2005 declaration that called for a democratic transition . But some of those who have been risking arrest or bodily harm as al-Assad tries to suppress a wave of anti-government protests said the people in the hotel do n't necessarily speak for them . `` The big question regarding this conference is , where are the young people ? '' asked Wissam Tarif , a pro-democracy activist based outside Syria . `` Where are the people who are on the streets ? Where are the voices of the people who are from Daraa , or from Douma , or from Jisr al-Shugur , or from Idlib ? I think those are the voices that have been missed so far . '' Shaaban acknowledged that those at the conference were not representative of the protesters on the streets . `` That 's very true . And this is our biggest problem and our biggest challenge , '' she said . `` We are trying our best to reach the leaders of people on the street because we want to solve this problem in our country and move forward . '' But she said the government wants to be all-inclusive in its reform efforts by inviting all social groups to participate in a dialogue . She argues that the government would not want to undermine that sense of national unity . `` No government in the world would kill its own people , '' she said . CNN 's Jomana Karadsheh and Elise Labott contributed to this report .
NEW : U.S. is pleased Syria gave the opposition some `` breathing space '' to negotiate with Assad. Adviser : Protesters have `` legitimate grievances , '' but there are extremists . The Turkish government says 10,757 Syrians have fled across the border . `` We must change this tyrannical regime , '' a former political prisoner says .