Islam Times - Syrians rally in support of Assad govt.

Islam Times - Thousands of Syrians have rallied in the capital to express support for President Bashar al-Assad, rejecting Western allegations that the Syrian government no longer enjoys public support.

Condemning a Western-backed media campaign against their country, thousands of Syrians converged in Saba' Bahrat square in Damascus on Wednesday to show the level of support that the Syrian president enjoys.

Syrian demonstrators also expressed support for Assad's reform program and called for national unity.

''We came to support the reform program of president Bashar al-Assad and national dialogue. National dialogue is a basic step in the reform process in Syria. We support Syrian national independent decision. We are against all conspiracies against Syria,'' a pro-government demonstrator said.

They also called on the Arab League observers visiting their country to be honest in their work.

''There is a conspiracy against Syria and it is clear for everyone to see. The Arab league observers have seen the situation. They should say the truth. The US is interfering in the AL. Some Western countries want to turn Syria into another Libya or Iraq. We support our president,'' said another demonstrator.

Arab observers arrived in Syria last week to investigate the nine-month unrest in the country and to monitor the implementation of an Arab League peace initiative to end the country's crisis. The monitoring mission is expected to release its report on Saturday.

Syria has been experiencing unrest since mid-March and according to the UN, 5,000 people have been killed in the country over the past nine months.

While the West and the Syrian opposition accuse the government of the killings, Damascus blames ''outlaws, saboteurs and armed terrorist groups'' for the unrest that erupted in mid-March, insisting that it is being orchestrated from abroad.