DAMASCUS, Syria - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has decreed a general amnesty for crimes committed during unrest in the country over the past 10 months, the official SANA news agency said on Sunday.

"President Assad issued a decree stipulating a general amnesty for crimes committed during the events between March 15, 2011 and January 15, 2012," SANA reported, without elaborating.

Syria has been rocked by unrest since March, and the United Nations estimated in mid-December that more than 5,000 people had been killed.