The Arab League's latest roadmap for an end to the crisis in Syria signals that regional states see the Assad era drawing to a close, although it could yet be a slow process, analysts said Monday.

"I think the Arab League yesterday unexpectedly pulled the rabbit out of the hat," said Salman Shaikh, director of the Brookings Doha Center.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat on Thursday held talks in Doha with Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani on the latest developments in the region.

During his visit to Qatar, Jumblat told the Doha-based satellite broadcaster Al-Jazeera that “violence will only breed violence in Syria,” reiterating his warning that the revolt-hit country might descend into a “civil war.”

U.S. President Barack Obama spoke by telephone Friday with Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan about the situation in Syria and Iran's nuclear program, the White House said.

"They agreed that the U.S. and Turkey should continue to support the legitimate demands for democracy for the Syrian people and condemned the brutal action of the Assad regime," it said in a statement.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Wednesday that President Bashar al-Assad gave a "chillingly, cynical speech" in which he tried to shift the blame for the violence in Syria.

"Instead of taking responsibility, what we hear from President Assad in his chillingly cynical speech yesterday was only making excuses blaming foreign countries," Clinton said.

Syria's President Bashar al-Assad will deliver a speech on Tuesday about the country's "internal matters," in a rare public address by the embattled leader, the official SANA news agency said.

"President Bashar al-Assad will give a speech before midday (1000 GMT) on Tuesday on the internal matters in Syria and developments regarding the situation in the region," SANA reported late Monday.

The head of the Free Syrian Army demanded Thursday that the Arab League pull its observer mission out of the country over its failure to halt almost 10 months of bloodshed.

Colonel Riyadh al-Asaad issued the call in an interview with AFP after the Arab League turned to the United Nations for help and admitted "mistakes" in the monitoring mission launched less than two weeks ago.

Switzerland's highest court has refused to lift an entry ban on a cousin of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who was seeking to travel to the country to fight sanctions imposed by Bern.

Hafez Makhlouf, who heads Damascus' secret services, counts among the regime's hardliners, and is alleged to have been in charge of the brutal repression against demonstrators.

The family of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has only "a few weeks" left in control of the strife-torn country, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak told MPs on Monday.

"The Assad family has no more than a few weeks to remain in control in Syria," Barak told the parliament's prestigious foreign affairs and defense committee in remarks quoted by the committee spokesman.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Tuesday noted that embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had “launched reforms in March” in his revolt-hit country, calling for “closing all doors and windows in the face of the foreign plots against the Levant.”

Addressing a Syrian delegation from the coastal city of Tartous that visited him in Bkirki, al-Rahi said: “Together with you, we are looking forward to the implementation of the vital constitutional reforms Syria is in need of, and I know that the president launched those reforms in March.”

The opposition Syrian National Council appealed Sunday for the Arab League to immediately send observers to the besieged city of Homs and other hotspots of a bloody crackdown on dissent, as activists said security forces killed 10 civilians across the country.

The call came a day before a first group of Arab League observers is set to arrive in Syria to begin monitoring a deal the 22-member bloc agreed with the government in Damascus aimed at ending nine months of violence.