BEIRUT — The government and its opponents in Syria claimed victories on Friday in a relentless contest of wills whose stalemate may deprive both of a decisive blow in the two-month uprising against the rule of President Bashar al-Assad.

Thousands of protesters defied a ferocious crackdown and returned to the streets on Friday, even in towns that the military had besieged only days before. But the protests seemed incapable of mustering a critical mass — as they did in Egypt and Tunisia — and, at least anecdotally, the number of demonstrators appeared to be smaller than in past weeks.

The government said it had subdued some of the most restive locales — namely Baniyas on the Mediterranean coast and Dara’a in the south — after deploying tanks and soldiers and arresting thousands. In the face of growing international condemnation and a reeling economy, though, it offered at least the facade of compromise, saying it would begin what it called a national dialogue next week.

Some dissidents in Damascus, Syria’s capital, described a deadlock in a conflict that has already shown the weakness of both the government and the opposition, dangerously exacerbated sectarian tensions in a country still struggling to forge a national identity and perhaps sown the seeds of an armed rebellion in rural regions knit by clan loyalties.