Syria to allow other political parties

SYRIA'S government has endorsed a draft law that it says will allow the formation of political parties alongside President Bashar al-Assad's ruling Baath Party, part of promised reforms that the opposition has dismissed as largely symbolic.

The development came as security forces detained dozens of people in the capital, Damascus, and several other cities in a search for anti-government protesters and regime opponents. The National Organisation for Human Rights in Syria yesterday said a seven-year-old child, a boxing champion and a writer were among those arrested.

The multi-party bill, approved by the cabinet late on Sunday, follows other concessions Mr Assad has made as part of his efforts to quell more than four months of protests. He has coupled his pledges of reform with a crackdown that activists say has killed at least 1,600 people.

The revolt has only grown more defiant in the face of the government response, and protesters have shifted their demands from political change to the outright downfall of the regime.

The draft law, which still needs parliamentary approval, would allow for the establishment of any political party which is not based on religious or tribal lines, or discriminates due to ethnicity, gender or race, the state-run news agency said. Mr Assad's ruling Baath Party, which calls for "unity, freedom and socialism", has held a monopoly over political life in Syria for decades. A key demand of the protest movement is the abolishment of Article 8 in the Syrian constitution, which states that the Baath Party is the leader of the state and society.

MP Mohammad Habash said that the bill will most likely be presented for debate at the next parliamentary session on 7 August. He said the bill in itself was positive, but that some articles of the constitution must be amended first, including article 8. Mr Assad, who inherited power in 2000 after the death of his father, Hafez Assad, has made a series of overtures to try to ease the growing outrage. He lifted the decades-old emergency laws that gave the regime a free hand to arrest people without charge, granted Syrian nationality to thousands of Kurds - a long- ostracised minority - and issued several pardons.

But the concessions failed to sap the momentum of the protest movement, which dismissed them as either symbolic or far too late. As a first step, the protesters are demanding an immediate end to the security crackdown and the release of thousands of people who have been detained in recent months.

The government, however, has shown no signs of letting up in its efforts to crush the uprising. On Monday, security forces tightened their siege of districts in central Syria's city of Homs, sending military reinforcements and cutting mobile and land lines in the Khaldieh and Bayada districts, activists said.The heavy deployment of troops and army vehicles sparked concerns of renewed military operations. An activist in Homs said there were fears of a large-scale military operation to try and force an end to the unrest there before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which begins next week, when protests are expected to gain momentum.

Ammar Qurabi, who heads the National Organisation for Human Rights in Syria, said among those arrested in Homs was one of Syria's boxing champions, Mahmoud Kaadi, 26, who was picked up while training. Seven-year-old Naim Qteifan was detained three days ago in the southern town of Daraa, Qurabi also said in a statement.

The Local Co-ordination Committees, which monitors and helps organise anti-government protests in Syria, also reported a "massive wave of raids and arrests" in the Hajar Aswad district of Damascus.