A gathering of a dozen liberal, pan-Arab nationalist, and left wing political parties, said they signed a petition named the "Damascus Declaration" to promote greater freedoms and demand a new constitution to usher political pluralism.

"We are calling for ending of all forms of political repression and opening a new chapter in the history of the country," Akram al Bunni, an activist among the signatories, told Reuters.

The alliance, which also includes both Arab and Kurdish leftist activists, urged the government to lift the emergency law, in place since the ruling Baath party assumed power in 1963.

"We demand the abrogation of all forms of exceptions in public life and the end of emergency laws and extra-ordinary judicial courts and the release of all political prisoners," said the statement, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters.

Syria, whose Baath party agreed in June to loosen the emergency law, is under mounting U.S. led pressure to reform.

But the authorities in the tightly controlled country say they cannot tolerate foreign inspired activism that seeks to reap political gains from mounting U.S. and Western pressure to isolate the country.

MEETING DISRUPTED

Activists said police disrupted a meeting on Sunday to launch the alliance in the office of 72-year-old lawyer Hassan Abdul Azim, who also heads a pan-Arab nationalist party.

Abdul Azim said the grouping was the secular opposition's first serious attempt to put forward unified demands for reforms since President Bashar al-Assad introduced a measure of political freedom when he assumed power in 2000.

The normally squabbling groups also seek to include Syrian dissidents abroad who seek reforms through peaceful means, Abdul Azim added.

Previous attempts to bring together the secular and leftist groups had failed over a host of ideological and organizational differences.

The alliance does not include the banned Muslim Brotherhood whose membership was made a capital offence in 1980 after crushing a revolt by Islamist militants against the secular Baath party.

The authorities have said they plan to allow the creation of opposition political parties, as long as they are not religiously or ethnically based. The Baath party, however, is expected to retain its political dominance.

The liberal opposition say continued arrests of its members in the last few months were aimed at sending a message to Syrian activists that they were not ready to tolerate any attempt to exploit the foreign pressure to undermine the Baath party.

"It's a message to the opposition that the state is still strong and would only permit what it wants and would continue arrests and bar public meetings," said Bunni.

The authorities have in recent weeks barred several public meetings by the secular liberal opposition organized to discuss greater democratization on the pretext they did not have legal permission.

Syria pulled out its troops and intelligence units from Lebanon in April as a result of the Lebanese uprising and international pressure following the assassination of former PM Rafik Hariri. Ever since Hariri was killed Syria has been under pressure to modify its behavior. A UN commission headed by Mehlis is investigating Hariri's murder and a report will be issued on October 21. Anti Syrian politicians and the US have accused Syria of involvement in Hariri's murder, but president Bashar El Assad denied any wrongdoing. Assad said during last week's CNN interview, if any Syrian was involved, he will be considered a traitor and tried accordingly. Ya Libnan has been covering the UN investigation from day one.

Source: Reuters, Ya Libnan