The Obama administration also criticized Assad for not addressing popular grievances. “We feel the speech fell short with respects to the kinds of reforms that the Syrian people demanded and what President Assad’s own advisers suggested was coming,” State Department spokesman Mark Toner said.
Assad’s speech, at the ornate parliament building in Damascus, was frequently interrupted by legislators who stood to shout their support. One member, wearing an Islamic scarf over her hair, rose to recite a short poem to Assad and the glory of Syria, while outside, pro-government demonstrators shouted and waved their fists for television cameras.
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Syria's President Bashar al-Assad has addressed the nation; but did not make any major concessions, despite more than two weeks of anti-government protests. (March 30)
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The Middle East and North Africa in turmoil
“With our souls, with our blood, we are supporting you, oh Assad,” they cried in unison.
Assad, acknowledging the tributes, said he took heart from the noisy expressions of support in pro-government demonstrations Tuesday and Wednesday. But people should understand, he added, that it is the president himself who supports the Syrian nation with his soul and his blood.
The tightly scripted proceedings, which lasted a little more than an hour, gave the impression of a show of support for the Syrian leadership at a time of crisis rather than offering the moment of serious concessions that many Syrians and others had expected.
Assad’s overarching explanation of the violent protests was that the unnamed plotters were misleading the people to foment discord between Syria’s Sunni Muslim majority and the Alawite minority from which the Assad family springs and on which it has based four decades of iron-fisted rule.
This was particularly true in Daraa, he said, a dusty border crossing on the road between Damascus and Amman. Known mainly as the place where Lawrence of Arabia said he was raped by a Turkish army officer, it gained new fame last week when security forces opened fire on protesters there in an encounter made visible around the world by cellphone cameras and Internet transmissions.
“The people of Daraa are the people of patriotism and the people of pan-Arab nationalism,” Assad declared, adding that they would never have risen up had they not been tricked.
He said the government had ordered security forces not to open fire. But the confrontation nevertheless escalated into bloodshed, he said, because of “chaos in the streets” incited by the plotters.
A special correspondent in Damascus contributed to this report.
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