THE SYRIAN government has indicated it will lift the state of emergency imposed in 1963 when the Baath Party seized power.
Information ministry spokeswoman Reem Haddad said yesterday that President Bashar al-Assad, who has ruled since 2000, will “very soon” address the nation on the intended reforms.
She added that changes are being made in response to the “legitimate” demands of demonstrators who have poured into the squares and streets of the country’s cities and towns since mid-March to call for reform and an end to corruption.
The army and police had been ordered not to shoot at protesters, but were compelled to fire when guns were used by demonstrators, she added. Activists deny this accusation. Presidential political adviser Bouthaina Shaaban blamed external elements for the unrest. “Five Lebanese were arrested in Homs . . . an Algerian and an Egyptian were held in Damascus.”
Attacks in the coastal city of Latakia had been carried out by Palestinians from a nearby refugee camp, she said.
In an attempt to meet a further demand from protesters, 260 prisoners – mainly members of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood – have been released after serving three-quarters of their sentences.
Dozens have been killed in protests that have spread from the epicentre in the southern town of Deraa to Damascus, Homs and Hama in the centre of the country, Aleppo in the north and the coastal cities of Tartous and Latakia, the home base of the ruling Assad family.
On Saturday, a dozen died and 200 were wounded when snipers shot at protesters in Latakia, prompting troops to move to contain the violence. In Deraa troops withdrew while funerals were held for “martyrs.”
Ayman Abdel Nour, a Syrian dissident based in Dubai, said that there are “two wings in the regime . . . there are those behind the [bloody crackdown] and those who want reform. It is a tug of war”.
Syria’s stability and that of its neighbours – Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq – could depend on whether Dr Assad, whose reforms were blocked by hardliners in 2001, or the old guard wins this tug of war.
If he wins, he might just be able to implement reforms rapidly enough to ensure stability. But if the old guard triumphs, the uprising could be expected to continue. Instability in Damascus could infect unstable Beirut which depends on Syria as a stabilising force. Unrest in Syria could also affect Jordan, where the Muslim Brotherhood is calling for a constitutional rather than an absolute monarchy, or Baghdad where Iraqis – angered over corruption and the lack of electricity, jobs and services – are demanding regime change.
