"Experience shows that this fist... can impose hegemony for a limited time only," read the letter to Assad, published by Lebanon's Arabic-language daily As-Safir.
"It seems your destiny is to sacrifice yourself for your mistakes and to give back voice to the people and let them decide," he wrote in the letter.
Adonis, whose real name is Ali Ahmed Said, has for decades advocated secularism and free speech in the Arab world, often employing intense imagery.
Born in the Syrian mountain town of Qassabin, Adonis -- like Assad -- is an Alawite Muslim, an offshoot of Shiite Islam that controls the Baath Party which has ruled Syria for nearly five decades.
Rights groups estimate that more than 1,200 people have been killed and 10,000 detained since mid-March as Assad's forces crack down on an unprecedented revolt against his autocratic regime.
The regime's brutal repression has driven thousands of Syrians to seek refuge in neighbouring Turkey and Lebanon, according to the United Nations.
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"It seems your destiny is to sacrifice yourself for your mistakes and to give back voice to the people and let them decide," he wrote in the letter.
Adonis, whose real name is Ali Ahmed Said, has for decades advocated secularism and free speech in the Arab world, often employing intense imagery.
Born in the Syrian mountain town of Qassabin, Adonis -- like Assad -- is an Alawite Muslim, an offshoot of Shiite Islam that controls the Baath Party which has ruled Syria for nearly five decades.
Rights groups estimate that more than 1,200 people have been killed and 10,000 detained since mid-March as Assad's forces crack down on an unprecedented revolt against his autocratic regime.
The regime's brutal repression has driven thousands of Syrians to seek refuge in neighbouring Turkey and Lebanon, according to the United Nations.
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