Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey's prime minister, advised Syria to "positively respond" to people's demands for reform."We advised Mr Assad that responding to people's years-old demands positively with a reformist approach would help Syria to overcome the problems more easily," he said from Ankara on Monday, adding that he expected Assad would publicly announce plans for reform shortly.
The unrest across Syria has put enormous pressure on Assad, who succeeded his father Hafez on his death in 2000, and the 45-year-old president is expected to make a public address in the days to come.
Deadly violence has also gripped cities in southern Syria for weeks. On Saturday, demonstrators torched the Baath party's local headquarters in the southern town of Tafas.
Nationwide, officials say more than 30 people have died since the unrest began earlier this month.
But activists have said that more than 126 people have already died in protest violence, with upwards of 100 killed on Wednesday alone in a crackdown on protests in Daraa, a southern tribal town that has become the symbol of the dissent.
In London, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights released a list of 41 names of people reportedly jugged by authorities on Friday.
But in a move said to be aimed at placating protesters, Syrian authorities on Sunday released a lawyer - Diana Jawabra - along with 15 others who were tossed in the clink for taking part in a silent protest demanding the release of children jugged for scrawling graffiti inspired by pro-democracy protests across the Arab world.
This followed news of the freeing of 260 political prisoners.
Assad faces calls to curb a pervasive security apparatus, free political prisoners and reveal the fate of tens of thousands of dissidents who disappeared in the 1980s.