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    February 16, 2012

Syrian President Orders Constitutional Referendum

   VOA News

   Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has ordered a constitutional
   referendum later this month that he says would end nearly five decades
   of single-party rule, as government troops continued to assault
   rebellious areas nationwide.
   If approved, the February 26 ballot would usher in a new charter that
   dilutes the ruling Ba'ath party's status as "the leader of the state
   and society." State media said Wednesday the draft also permits a
   president to be elected to two seven-year terms, setting a limit for
   the first time in decades.
   Meanwhile, activists said Syrian troops mounted a new offensive in
   Hama, the country's fourth largest city. Rights groups said government
   forces were firing at residential neighborhoods with anti-aircraft guns
   mounted on armored vehicles.
   In Homs, 40 kilometers to the south, witnesses said the government's
   nearly two-week assault continued, and an explosion hit an oil pipeline
   near the city's rebel-held Sunni Muslim district of Baba Amr. In the
   capital, Damascus, elite troops searched houses and made arrests.
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