Syria vows government jobs for relatives of 'martyrs'

Syria will award 50 percent of vacant government posts to relatives of soldiers and government employees killed or paralysed in the country's conflict, according to a law issued on Wednesday.

The law, decreed by President Bashar al-Assad after passing parliament earlier in the week, comes as the death toll among Syrian government troops grows.

More than 44,200 Syrian soldiers have been killed since the conflict began in March 2011, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group.

"With this law, 50 percent of the posts in the public administration will be reserved for the relatives of martyrs," state news agency SANA said.

It added that those eligible would have to pass exams, where necessary.

The law defines as "martyrs" any soldier, policeman, pro-regime militiaman or public servant "if they died during the war, military operations or because of terrorist gangs."

The law will also cover people in those categories who have been paralysed or blinded in the conflict.

Relatives eligible for the government posts include the parents, spouses and children of those killed or wounded.

A total of more than 200,000 people have been killed since Syria's war broke out, including 28,000 members of the National Defence Forces, a pro-regime militia.

The regime's losses have caused growing resentment among government supporters, including in the Alawite community to which Assad belongs.

Majority-Alawite Tartus on the Mediterranean coast has suffered the highest proportional loss of soldiers of any province in Syria.

It has come to be known as "the capital of martyrs" by government supporters.