Crisis spirals as Assad readies TV address

DAMASCUS, Syria, March 28 (UPI) -- The Syrian crisis heightened Monday morning as President Bashar Assad prepared to address the nation amid a possible split among his closest advisers.

"It's very tense here, very tense," a Western diplomat in Damascus told The New York Times. "You can feel it in the air."

Assad -- who bragged to The Wall Street Journal two months ago he would not face a popular uprising like the one that toppled Egyptian President Hosni Mubarack because he was "very closely linked to the beliefs of the people" -- would address the nation on state television "within 24 to 48 hours," a presidential adviser said Sunday.

Assad, 45, remained out of sight Sunday as he had during more than a week of unrest that threatened to undo his 11-year presidency and more than 40 years of his family's rule.

At least 61 people have died during crackdowns on protesters in several cities since March 18, Human Rights Watch reported before 10 to 21 people were killed and hundreds injured Saturday in a pro-democracy demonstration in the northwestern port city of Latakia.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Monday he had spoken to Assad twice in recent days and pressed him to listen to those calling for reforms, Israel Radio reported.

Assad's TV address was expected to outline his pledge to remove the severe 1963 emergency law, a key protester demand, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The law, which suspends most constitutional protections, lets the government make pre-emptive arrests of dissidents and bans demonstrations. Syria has justified the state of emergency in the light of its ongoing tensions with Israel.

A government official told reporters in Damascus Sunday the draconian law would be repealed soon. But the official gave no timetable for the pullback or make clear how the repeal would go into effect.

He also did not say how removing the law would affect day-to-day living since many other Syrian laws also restrict freedoms and grant immunity to the secret police, The New York Times said.

"What will change is nothing," Syrian human rights activist and legal expert Radwan Ziadeh, now at George Washington University, told the newspaper.

The government, through the official Syrian Arab News Agency, also blamed "armed gangs" for Saturday's killings in Latakia, a key port city and manufacturing center.

"Armed gangs roamed the streets, occupied the rooftops of some buildings and opened fire randomly, terrorizing people," SANA said.

Human-rights groups and videos posted on YouTube indicated thugs loyal to the regime had opened fire on demonstrators in Latakia.

SANA denied government forces opened fire on the demonstrators.

The protests are fueled by demands for political and civil liberties and an end to alleged corruption. The cost of living is also an issue since Syrians spend half their income on food, U.N. figures indicate, and have double-digit unemployment levels.

About 30 percent of the country's 22 million people live below the poverty line, the United Nations says.

Amid the crisis, analysts said a rift may be developing among Assad's ruling circle, with some -- particularly Assad's younger brother, Maher, who heads the feared Presidential Guard, widely seen as the regime's henchmen -- favoring a harsh crackdown, the Journal said. Maher Assad sees giving in to protester demands as a sign of weakness, the Journal said.

In Washington, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton condemned the violence against protesters Sunday, but said Syria was different from Libya and Washington had no plans to interfere in Syria's internal affairs.

"What's been happening there the last few weeks is deeply concerning," she said on CBS's "Face the Nation." But there's a difference between calling out aircraft and indiscriminately strafing and bombing your own cities, then police actions, which frankly have exceeded the use of force that any of us would want to see.

As for the Assad regime's future, "It's over -- it's just a question of time," the Western diplomat who spoke with the Times said.

"It could be a slow burn, or Gadhafi-esque insanity over the next few days," said the diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity in accordance with diplomatic protocol, referring to the embattled leader of Libya, Moammar Gadhafi.