Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has offered amnesty to anyone accused of crimes in connection with the last 10 months of anti-government unrest and resulting violence.

Assad has made similar decrees on three previous occasions in May, June and November. Sunday's announcement was made on the official SANA news agency and broadcast on state television.

Since the outbreak of the uprising against Assad's rule in March, Assad has freed 3,952 prisoners, according to SANA. The opposition claims there are thousands more in Syrian prisons and said that 26 people had died on Sunday, including a policeman and soldier killed by security forces for refusing to fire on protesters.

The new amnesty decree was granted "for crimes committed in the context of the events taking place since March 15, 2011, till the date of issuing the decree", SANA reported.

It encompasses those who have peacefully demonstrated, evaded Syria's military draft or carried unlicensed weapons and ammunition. But the "fugitives" covered by the decree must turn themselves in to authorities by January 31, SANA said.

The United Nations estimates at least 5,000 people have been killed since initially peaceful protests against Assad's government were met by a brutal security crackdown, sparking an ongoing armed conflict in which both the military and the opposition - which includes army defectors - have conducted attacks.

Assad heading for 'dead end

Meanwhile on Sunday, UN chief Ban Ki-moon called on Assad to stop the killing, saying he is heading for a "dead end".

"Today, I say again to President Assad of Syria: Stop the violence. Stop killing your people. The path of repression is a dead end," Ban said in a keynote address at a conference on Arab world democracy in the Lebanese capital, Beirut.

Ban also said that the revolutions in the Arab world show that people will no longer accept tyranny.

"The lessons of the past year are eloquent and clear. The winds of change will not cease to blow. The flame ignited in Tunisia will not be dimmed. Let us remember as well, none of these great changes began with a call for a regime change. First and foremost, people wanted dignity," he said.

Ban and the Turkish foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, met in the Lebanese capital on Saturday and discussed the "dangerous trajectory" of the crisis in Syria, sources said.

"They discussed a range of regional matters, in particular the situation in Syria as well as Iran and Cyprus," Martin Nesirky, Ban's spokesman, said in a statement.

"The secretary-general said the dangerous trajectory of the crisis in Syria was a source of grave concern."

Turkey shares a 910km border with Syria, its former ally, and has strongly condemned the Syrian government's crackdown on dissent.

PHOTO CAPTION

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, right, speaks during the opening session of a conference on democracy in the Arab world, in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday Jan. 15, 2012.

Aljazeera