Syria accepts Annan\'s plan to stop bloodshed

Troop clashes spill over into Lebanon A spokesperson for UN envoy Kofi Annan has said that Syria has accepted his plan to end the bloodshed in the country. The plan includes a cease-fire by Syrian forces, a daily two-hour halt

to fighting to evacuate injured people and provide humanitarian aid and inclusive talks about a political solution.
Damascus had accepted an earlier plan from the Arab League but failed to implement it.
Ahmad Fawzi, Annan's spokesperson said on Tuesday that the Syrian government's acceptance of Annan's proposal came in a letter addressed to the UN envoy.
A member of the opposition Syrian National Council welcomed the government's acceptance of the peace plan. Bassma Kodmani told the Associated Press by telephone Tuesday that "we welcome all acceptance by the regime of a plan that could allow the repression and bloodbath to stop". She expressed her hope that "we can move toward a peace process".
The United Nations on Tuesday increased its death toll for the Syria unrest to more than 9000.
"Violence on the ground has continued unabated," Robert Serry, a UN Middle East peace envoy, told the UN Security Council.
"Credible estimates put the probable death toll since the beginning of the uprising one year ago to more than 9000. It is urgent to stop the fighting and prevent a further violent escalation of the conflict," Serry added.
The Local Co-ordination Committees said at least 20 people have been killed by the security forces on Tuesday, including seven in Hama.
The Syrian Observatory of Human Rights told AFP that eight people were killed by Syrian security forces.
The British-based group said one woman was killed by a stray bullet in the Damascus suburb of Douma and two other women died in Maaret al-Numan, in the northwest province of Idlib.
One civilian was killed by sniper fire in Deblan, a neighbourhood of the flashpoint central city of Homs which has been under attack for weeks by regime forces trying to root out rebels.
Four soldiers also died in the clashes with rebel troops in Maaret al-Numan, the Observatory said.
There are also concerns that the conflict could cause a regional conflagration.
Clashes between Syrian security forces and armed rebels are reported to have spilled across the border with Lebanon, witnesses and Lebanese security officials said.
Residents of Masharia al-Qaa told the Reuters news agency that soldiers backed by armoured vehicles had entered Lebanon and started to destroy houses.
Lebanese officials said bullets had struck Lebanese territory, but that no Syrian troops had crossed the border.
Syrian troops reportedly destroyed farm buildings and clashed with Syrian rebels who had taken refuge there.
Abu Ahmed, 63, from the rural mountain area of al-Qaa, said: "More than 35 Syrian soldiers came across the border and started to destroy houses."
Another resident said that the soldiers, some travelling in armoured personnel vehicles, fired rocket-propelled grenades and exchanged heavy machine-gun fire with rebels.
Lebanese daily The Daily Star also reported that al-Qaa was fired on by Syrian troops. But it said the clashes took place on the Syrian side of the border.
Thousands of Syrian refugees have fled to Lebanon in the past year.
Syrian state television showed video of Assad, wearing an open-necked shirt with a blue suit, walking casually in the devastated streets of the Baba Amr district and talking to groups of supporters.
Baba Amr was an emblem of opposition and rebel army defiance until it was reclaimed by government forces early this month after 26 days of heavy bombardment which opposition activists said was totally indiscriminate.
"Life will return to normal in Baba Amr, better than it was before," Assad said.
The rebel Free Syrian Army has been accused of using child soldiers in their fight against government forces, a UN official said. Use of child soldiers is banned under international conventions. The concern follows last week's report from the New York-based rights group Human Rights Watch that armed Syrian opposition groups have kidnapped, tortured and executed members of supporters of Assad and members of his security forces.
Annan, the United Nations and Arab League envoy to Syria, was in Beijing on Tuesday to seek China's backing for his plan for a negotiated end to the bloody conflict in Syria.
Annan arrived after meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in Moscow, where he said there was no deadline for ending the Syrian crisis but that it cannot drag on indefinitely.
"The internal conflict currently tearing Syrian society apart will not disappear with the departure of one or another political figure," RIA Novosti quoted Medvedev as saying earlier today at the nuclear summit in Seoul
"To consider that Assad's departure would solve all the problems would be very [shortsighted]. I would like the decision on the fate of the Syrian state, society, political system and people to be taken not by the respected leaders of world powers, even by those acting in good faith, but by the Syrian people themselves, by all levels of Syrian society," said the outgoing president.
In Beijing, Annan met with Chinese foreign ministry officials and was to hold talks later on Tuesday with Premier Wen Jiabao.
Annan said in Moscow that above all, the Syrian government and opposition must start a political process to resolve the conflict peacefully, adding that it would be up to the Syrians themselves to decide whether Assad should step down.
China – along with Russia – has twice shielded Assad from UN sanctions over his crackdown. The two countries called the resolutions unbalanced, saying they blamed only the Syrian government and demanded an end to government attacks, but not ones by the opposition.
Meanwhile, about 60 countries, including the United States, will attend a "Friends of the Syrian People" conference in Istanbul on Sunday. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said Monday that China was invited but would not attend.