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THE centre of Damascus, the Syrian capital, may be quiet but in dense suburbs where most of its 3m inhabitants live, chanting, hand-clapping marches burst out of dozens of local mosques. “The people demand the execution of the president,” they shout. “With our blood and spirit we sacrifice for Homs.”The reference is to Syria’s third-largest city, large tracts of which remain in the hands of anti-government rebels despite two weeks of relentless pummeling by rockets and artillery that has left at least 300 dead. Shows of frequently indiscriminate firepower have succeeded in containing opposition and in some cases crushing it. Zabadani, a town of 100,000 near the Lebanese border held by rebels for nearly a month, capitulated to government forces on February 11th. Scores of other unruly towns and cities have been punished, too.The brutal government offensive has encouraged President Bashar Assad to proffer the latest in a series of belated carrots. Receiving the draft of a new constitution from a panel he appointed in October, he declared that it would be put to a referendum on February 26th. The text enshrines such things as civic freedoms, multi-party elections and a limit of two seven-year terms for presidents.The combination of ruthless repression and reform appears to be Mr Assad’s plan for resolving the trouble that has roiled his country for 11 months. It is also...