Syrian Cabinet Resigns Amid Unrest, President to Address Nation
Bashar al-Assad (guardian.co.uk)
Bashar al-Assad, president of Syria, will address the nation from the parliament on Wednesday after two weeks of serious unrest in the country, in a speech considered the most serious since young president took office eleven years ago, especially since the president will announce the resignation of his cabinet on Tuesday.
The president is expected to elaborate on a series of economic reforms, and to announce that the state of emergency that has been installed in 1963 would be lifted.
Unrest in Deraa (alblebanon.com)
On Tuesday, the Syrian PM Mohammed Naji Otri presented the resignation of the cabinet, and received from the president the task of being caretaker until the new cabinet was formed.
The political change comes as a result of violent protests in the city of Deraa, where people demanding political reforms were met by the security forces with a brutal assault that left at least 35 of them dead.
Assad’s regime is said to differ from all the other Arab regimes by its open character, even allowing some degree of opposition to the regime.
Though the people want reform like anywhere else in the other neighboring countries, it is very much unlikely that they would demand the ouster of the president or of the Baath regime, that came to power in 1963 and has been ruling the country ever since.
A leader of the party in power said that in Syria there is not a revolution but a way of the people to demand reform. He added that if election were held in the country, the party would score more than 60%.
