Syria's Assad to address the nation Tuesday

DAMASCUS - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad will appear on the state-TV to address his nation on the recent development in Syria and the region, the private Elkhbaria TV and the official SANA news agency reported.

The speech due on Tuesday, the third since the eruption of unrest in mid-March of last year, comes as the country is facing escalating violence and crescendo of international condemnation as well as repetitive calls on Assad to step down.

Syrian government said a total of 2,000 army and security personnel were killed during the months-long unrest, while the United Nations put the death toll at more than 5,000.

The government says that the turmoil in Syria is not an uprising but the work of terrorists and foreign-backed armed gangs.