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Activists claim clean-up operation is under way to hide evidence of president Bashar al-Assad’s clampdown from diplomatic mission President Bashar al-Assad prepared to address his people as a UN team arrived in Damascus to assess humanitarian needs after five months of turmoil. Assad’s television interview, his fourth address during the growing revolt against his rule, will address “the current situation in Syria, the reform process and … implications of the US and western pressures on Syria politically and economically”, the state media agency Sana reported. Last week the US and leaders of the EU, including the UK, France and Germany, called for Assad to step aside amid an escalating military offensive since 31 July. Activists said a clean-up operation was under way in places including the port city of Latakia as the UN delegation arrived in the country. But gunfire and arrests continued to be reported and a further 20 people, including five soldiers, died across the country on Saturday, activists said. Assad has reportedly told the UN’s Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs that it can travel to any part of the country it wishes, including Latakia, which was besieged by land and sea during a major security operation last week. Before the planned visit to Latakia, a western diplomat said reports had been received of a large-scale clean-up of the al-Ramel Palestinian refugee camp in the city, which was heavily targeted. “Reports of a clean-up square perfectly with the version of events which the regime is denying,” the diplomat said. “But any attempts to whitewash and destroy evidence can only backfire on this isolated regime. “The evidence in the form of personal testimonies of what happened in Latakia is overwhelming and undeniable. Assad can run but he can’t hide from the arm of international law which is closing in on him.” Residents of Hama and Homs reported similar clean-ups by government officials after rampages through the cities by security forces in recent months. As protesters waited for Assad’s address, they said that nothing the embattled president announced would pull people off the streets. Despite international pressure, the violent crackdown has continued with more that 350 people said to have been killed this month – adding to a death toll of around 2,000. The country’s third city, Homs, was heavily targeted at the weekend with dozens of people killed and many more arrested, activists said. A Homs resident said shooting had been heard inside a hospital and a prison. Residents, who fear a full-scale assault may be imminent, portrayed Homs as a city bracing itself for renewed destruction. “There are snipers on all the buildings. The tanks aren’t in the centre, but around the edges. There is a general strike and all the shops are closed. The situation is terrible – even after Assad says there aren’t tanks and after Obama tells him to step aside,” a resident told the Guardian. International calls for Assad to leave have sharply intensified scrutiny of his regime and its sustained crackdown against demonstrators, which it continues to cast as a fight against terrorists. The hardened western stance is set to greatly increase the stakes for Assad, who now faces pariah status among leaders whose attention he had previously coveted. It has also for the first time raised the possibility of a Libyan-style military intervention, something that had not previously been considered despite five months of violence in which an estimated 2,500 people have died and which have all but shut down the Syrian economy. A Guardian poll published at the weekend revealed that 80% of respondents supported some sort of military intervention in Syria. But there is no western appetite for military action in the densely populated, ethnically diverse country of 22 million and the vast majority of Syrians reject the idea. A state-owned Syrian newspaper described the calls by Barack Obama, the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, and David Cameron as the “face of the conspiracy” it claims is being waged against it. There are fears that western demands could embolden Assad, giving him little option but to fight as he struggles to retain control of the hardline police state his family has ruled as a personal fiefdom for more than four decades. His traditional international support base remains resolute. Iranian support for the Assad regime is a key factor in calculations and Russia has said it does not support the call for Assad to leave. Another one-time ally, Turkey, was on Sunday hosting a meeting of Syrian opposition groups who are attempting to elect a national council, as it too struggles to deal with the increasingly grave situation across its volatile border. The body is attempting to position itself as an alternative leadership, in the same way that the National Transitional Council did in the weeks after Colonel Gaddafi was ousted from eastern Libya. That body eventually won international recognition. However, Syria’s nascent opposition has struggled to gain momentum. “The opposition is starting to realise that they cannot all be chiefs and that they have to live up to the expectations of the international community,” veteran opposition figure Khaled Haj Saleh told Reuters. The UN last week said it had identified 50 Syrian regime figures who may have committed crimes against humanity. In another sign of mounting international anger, the EU is considering placing a ban on Syrian oil exports, which account for 25% of the its economy. With industry at a standstill, no tourism, and cash reserves rapidly dwindling, such a move would likely prove difficult for Assad’s regime to withstand in the long run. • Nour Ali is a pseudonym for a journalist based in Damascus. Syria Middle East Bashar Al-Assad Arab and Middle East unrest Nour Ali Martin Chulov guardian.co.uk