Syrian President ratifies law to end 48 years of emergency rule

PanARMENIAN.Net - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Thursday, April 21 ratified a law to end 48 years of emergency rule in an attempt to defuse angry protests against his 11-year rule by people demanding greater freedoms.

State TV said Assad signed the legislation "to end the state of emergency in Syria." Inspired by uprisings gripping the Arab world, thousands of Syrians have held demonstrations across the country demanding reforms, presenting Assad with the most serious challenge to his governance.

Meanwhile, former vice president Abdelhalim Khaddam said in written remarks published Thursday that Assad's violent crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators would eventually lead to his overthrow.

Khaddam, who fled to Paris in 2005 after nearly 20 years as vice president, also told Egypt's Al-Shorouk newspaper he expected the Syrian army to stop supporting Assad and end "the sectarian strife he and his family are instigating."

"Assad has exposed himself completely before the people, through the crimes committed by his security apparatus," Khaddam said. "This has created a deep feeling among Syrians that the continuation of the regime would be a catastrophe."

"The depth of the rift between the regime and the majority of the people... will lead to the collapse of a regime desperately struggling to survive," he said, according to Reuters.