Syria closes casino, overturns veil ban

Syria's only casino has been shut down and a ban on teachers wearing the Islamic veil reversed, in moves seen as an effort to reach out to conservative Muslims ahead of calls for pro-democracy protests.

Syrian activists called for fresh demonstrations on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday in memory of more than 80 people killed in a protest crackdown three weeks ago.

Groups calling for renewed protest this week have set up a Facebook group called The Syrian Revolution 2011, which has more than 100,000 members.

Meanwhile, the death toll from an ongoing crackdown on dissent in Syria has risen, according to rights groups. Insan, a Syrian rights group, says at least 173 people have died in the unrest, while the Paris-based International Federation for Human Rights, working with the Damascus Center for Human Rights Studies, The New York Times reported.

The decisions by President Bashar al-Assad to close the casino and repeal bans on veils in schools are seen as unusual in Syria, which promotes a strictly secular identity although it remains a religiously observant Muslim country.

The closure of Damascus Casino, located around 20 miles outside the capital, on Tuesday comes just three months after it was opened. "It is not known whether this is a permanent closure or a temporary move to appease extremist Islamist groups who have been calling for the casino's closure for months," casino sources told the German Press Agency DPA.

When Assad banned the niqab in July, hundreds of teachers who were wearing the the full Islamic face veil at government-run schools were transferred to administrative jobs.

On Wednesday, Ali Saad, the acting education minister, said the teachers were now allowed to return to their jobs, the Guardian reports.