All bets off as Syria bids to appease its Muslim hardliners

Syrian activists have called for fresh demonstrations on Friday to honour more than 80 people killed in a crackdown on protests that erupted nearly three weeks ago.

President Bashar Assad's decisions were unusual concessions to religious concerns in Syria, which promotes a strictly secular identity.

The recent protests, however, have brought sectarian tensions into the open as thousands of people took to the streets calling for democracy in a country where Alawites - a branch of Shiite Islam that represents just 11 per cent of the population - have been in power for nearly 40 years. The country is overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim.

Pro-democracy protests originally erupted in the majority Sunni Muslim city of Deraa and later spread to other cities, including the religiously-mixed port city of Latakia, posing the greatest challenge to Mr Assad's 11-year rule.

Mr Assad banned the niqab, the full Islamic face veil that reveals only a woman's eyes, in July as part of his campaign to mute sectarian differences.

Hundreds of primary school teachers who were wearing the niqab at government-run schools were transferred in June to administrative jobs, angering many conservative Muslims.

Yesterday, Ali Saad, the education minister in Syria's caretaker government, said the teachers were now allowed to return to their jobs, according to the state-run news agency, SANA.

He added that the ministry would discuss any new application by any teacher willing to go back to her work.

The billowing black robe known as a niqab is not widespread in Syria, although it has become more common recently - something that has not gone unnoticed in a country governed by a secular regime.

Also yesterday, the Syrian state-run newspaper Tishrin reported that Casino Damascus has been closed because the practices of the club's owners that "violate laws and regulations." It did not elaborate.

Observant Muslims consider casino betting, lottery participation and sports betting to be particularly un-Islamic.

The recent unrest in Syria, which exploded nationwide three weeks ago, is a new and highly unpredictable element of the Arab Spring, which has seen popular uprisings in countries including Egypt, Tunisia and Yemen.

The unrest could have implications well beyond Syria's borders.Mr Assad's Baath Party, in power for 48 years, is secular, but the cornerstone of Damascus' foreign policy is its anti-Israeli alliance with Shiite Iran, Shiite militant group Hezbollah and Palestinian Islamist militant group Hamas.

Mr Assad's father, late president Hafez al-Assad had no tolerance for the Sunni Muslim Brotherhood and in 1982 sent in special forces who crushed an armed rebellion by the group, killing thousands.

Human Rights Watch yesterday called on Mr Assad to order Syrian security forces to stop using "unjustified lethal force against anti-government protesters."

"For three weeks, Syria's security forces have been firing on largely peaceful protesters in various parts of Syria," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch.

"Instead of investigating those responsible for shootings, Syria's officials try to deflect responsibility by accusing unknown 'armed groups'."