Annan To Meet Assad After 68 Killed In Syria

UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan is due to meet the Syrian president to urge a political solution to the country's year-long uprising and bloody crackdown in which thousands of people have been killed.
Mr Annan's talks in Damascus come a day after activists said Bashar al Assad's forces killed at least 68 people as they sought to extend control over the rebellious city of Homs and crush armed opposition in the northern province of Idlib.
Arab foreign ministers are also due to hold talks in Cairo with Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov.
Russia and China vetoed a UN draft resolution in February which would have backed an Arab League plan calling for President Assad to step aside.
Activists said tank rounds and mortar bombs crashed into opposition districts in the rebellious central city of Homs on Friday, killing 20 people.
They said at least 24 were killed in the northern province of Idlib and more deaths were reported elsewhere.
"Thirty tanks entered my neighbourhood at seven this morning and they are using their cannons to fire on houses," said Karam Abu Rabea, a resident in Homs's Karm al Zeitoun neighbourhood.
Street protests have swelled every Friday after Muslim prayers since the anti-Assad revolt erupted a year ago, despite violent repression by the military and loyalist militias.
Decisive victory has eluded both sides in an increasingly bloody struggle that appears to be sliding into civil war.
Former UN chief Mr Annan, now the UN-Arab League envoy, discussed his mission with current UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the head of the Arab League, Nabil Elaraby.
"I have very strongly urged Kofi Annan to ensure that there must be an immediate ceasefire," Mr Ban said in New York.
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After a ceasefire, he said, there should be "inclusive political solutions" found through dialogue.
Mr Annan also plans to meet the Syrian opposition before leaving the country on Sunday.
He has called for a political solution but dissidents say there is no room for dialogue amid President Assad's crackdown.
"If (Mr Annan) can persuade Russia to back a transitional plan, the regime would be confronted with the choice of either agreeing to negotiate in good faith or facing near-total isolation through loss of a key ally," the Brussels-based International Crisis Group said.
Along with China, Russia has opposed any UN resolution, fearing Libya-style military intervention, a position Germany hoped might change after Vladimir Putin's victory in the presidential election last week.
Russia, an old ally of Damascus and its main arms supplier, has defended Mr Assad against his Western and Arab critics, twice joining China in vetoing UN resolutions on Syria.
A Russian diplomat said Mr Assad is battling al Qaeda-backed "terrorists" including at least 15,000 foreign fighters who would seize cities if government troops withdrew.
The Syrian opposition denies any al Qaeda role in the uprising, but Mr Assad's opponents have taken up arms. 
The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said five soldiers were killed when their armoured personnel carrier was attacked by army deserters in the southern province of Deraa.