Syrian Regime's Backers Take a Turn at Protest

Syrian supporters of President Bashar al-Assad took to the streets in large demonstrations in several cities, as the regime and its supporters threw their weight behind the leader's offers of reform.

Opposition activists, who dismissed the president's pledges in a speech Monday as insufficient, also demonstrated on Tuesday, leading to the deaths of at least four people in three cities when security forces fired on protesters, according to activists.

Mr. Assad, in his first public address since April 16, promoted a process of national dialogue as a path to reform. Opposition leaders have said they wouldn't take part.

Assad supporters were out in force in Damascus, the Syrian capital,which has yet to see sustained, mass antiregime demonstrations. In a central square, thousands of people waved flags and portraits of Mr. Assad, chanting: "We sacrifice ourselves for you, Bashar."

The proregime demonstrations were backed, and possibly organized to some extent, by the government. Mass text messages were sent Monday urging people to march. Syria's state news agency said millions of people across the country were "flocking to the public squares in support of the reform process under the leadership of President Bashar al-Assad."

But almost four months into protests that have polarized Syrian society, Mr. Assad maintains a loyal base among the large merchant families of Damascus and Aleppo, the country's second-largest city. He also commands support among some minorities—including the Christian population—who prefer his autocratic rule over an unknown alternative and the potential of sectarian strife.

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West seeks UN vote condemning Syria

UNITED NATIONS — Western powers pressed the UN Security Council to condemn Syria's deadly crackdown on opposition protests in the face of strong opposition from Russia and China.

Britain and France have drawn up a new resolution which demands that President Bashar al-Assad end the violence and lift the siege of protest cities. It also calls for an arms embargo on Syria.

But there is no threat of sanctions and France's envoy said that there was no intention to launch Libya-style military action.

Meanwhil hundreds of residents fled the flashpoint town of Jisr al-Shughur in northern Syria on Wednesday, fearing bloody reprisals for the alleged killing earlier this week of 120 police and troops.

Fears that the regime could be about to exact brutal revenge for what it said was a "massacre" on Monday by "armed terrorists" appeared to galvanize efforts at the United Nations.

Britain, France, Germany and Portugal have submitted the resolution and say they are ready to risk a veto by Russia which reaffirmed its opposition to action by the 15-member Security Council.

"We believe that the world should not stand silent in the face of the outrages that are happening and we therefore hope that we will be able to move to vote on the resolution in coming days," said Britain's UN ambassador Mark Lyall Grant.

French ambassador Gerard Araud called the resolution an attempt to send a "political message" to Assad that it is time to carry out reforms.

He said in an interview with French television: "We all know, and it has been said by the French authorities, that we are not going to get engaged in military operations against Syria."

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Syria’s Cabinet Resigns; Concessions Expected

CAIRO — The Syrian government resigned Tuesday in what might have been a prelude to other concessions in a speech President Bashar al-Assad is expected to give to the nation on Wednesday, part of an expanding effort to address protests against his authoritarian rule.

The resignation was seen as a significant — if primarily symbolic — gesture in a nation where the leadership rarely responds to public pressure and where decisions are made not by the cabinet but by the president and his inner circle, including multiple security services.

“It is not about the government, it is about the policies of the state,” said Abdel Majid Manjouni, the head of the Socialist Democratic Arab Union Party in Aleppo. “The ministers are not the ones who decide these things. That is the president. He makes the policies.”

Mr. Assad’s speech on Wednesday was scheduled to try to calm tensions after government forces repeatedly opened fire on demonstrators, killing dozens of people. According to officials, the speech, originally expected on Monday, will offer significant political concessions, including the lifting of laws that restrict civil and political freedoms. The promises, however, were greeted skeptically by a public accustomed to a leadership that has talked of reform for years without results.

“Now it’s all about evaluating Assad’s words and how to judge his actions,” said Andrew J. Tabler, a Syria expert in Washington. “He doesn’t have a good track record on following through and I can’t imagine he can now, given the regime’s structure.”

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Syria awaits end of decades-old state of emergency

DAMASCUS — Syria is counting down the hours until President Bashar al-Assad makes the promised announcement of the end of 50 years of emergency rule, but the move will have but symbolic impact unless accompanied by other major reforms, analysts say.

"To lift the state of emergency is a symbolic gesture at best," said Faysal Itani, deputy head of Middle East and North Africa forecasting at London-based risk assessment group Executive Analysis.

"Even if it were followed through... it would not address the key issue, which is the high degree of economic and political power in the hands of a select political elite," Itani told AFP.

"The only thing that would do, in the current situation, would be sweeping reform of how power is distributed."

Syria has a religiously and ethnically mixed population. Alongside a large Sunni Muslim community, it has Christian and Kurdish minorities as well as a significant Alawite population, from which President Bashar al-Assad himself hails.

Growing unrest in Syria has turned increasingly violent in recent days, as Assad faces his deepest crisis since he succeeded his father in 2000.

Syria has been under a state of emergency since 1963, when the Baath party seized power. After a series of palace coups, Bashar's father Assad, rose to presidency in 1970, crushing any signs of dissent in his three-decade rule.

The 45-year-old Bashar is expected to address his country in the days to come, but there is no confirmation that he will officially announce that emergency rule has been lifted.

And even if he does, analysts say, more reforms are needed for Syria to shed its reputation and quell simmering dissent in impoverished areas.

"For lifting the state of emergency to have a real impact, President Assad will have to dismantle the state security court and other institutions created over the past 30 years to enforce the repressive rule," said Nadim Houry, senior researcher at Human Rights Watch.

"While it would be a positive step forward, a lot more reforms are needed to provide Syrians with the freedom they deserve."

A key step forward would be to set up an independent body to supervise Syria?s multiple infamous security agencies and enact laws in compliance with international human rights norms, Houry said.

Syria's emergency law imposes restrictions on public gatherings and movement and authorises the arrest of "suspects or persons who threaten security".

The law also authorises interrogation of any individual and the surveillance of personal communication as well as official control of the content of newspapers and other media before publication.

In a conciliatory move last week, the state announced talks were underway to adopt new laws on the media and licensing of political parties.

But analysts say it is too early to say what the annoucement will mean in terms of press freedom in the key Middle Eastern state.

"The state of emergency only provides legal cover of something that is already being done by force," said Itani.

Houry said: "The steps that need to be taken for true reform, for example, include the establishment of an independent electoral commission to register new political parties."

And until the heart of the matter is addressed, the wave of unrest is unlikely to subside, the analysts agreed.

"About 80 percent of the population feels disenfranchised, and they are the hardest hit by socio-economic problems," Itani said.

"The Baath is going to have to open up to power-sharing and it is not clear that they are willing to do so."

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