Political analysts say Syria is unlikely to remain untouched by the pro-democracy unrest sweeping Arab nations, despite President Bashar al-Assad's insistence that his country is stable. The Baath party has governed Syria under emergency law since 1963, and Assad took office in 2000 following his father's death.
Syrian activists used Facebook, officially blocked but accessible via proxies, to organize a protest day in February 2011. One online group calling for a peaceful revolution against corruption and one-party rule attracted more than 8,000 supporters.
Domestically, Syria faces poverty affecting 14 percent of its 22 million citizens and unemployment estimated at 20 percent. The government pledged $14 billion for human development through 2015 and established a $250 million fund for roughly 420,000 struggling families. Dozens of opposition figures, writers, and filmmakers issued a collective statement declaring that Syrians share the same aspirations for justice and freedom driving uprisings elsewhere in the region.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this wire report, first published in February 2011, in its own words.