Syria accepts Annan plan to stop bloodshed

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has agreed to a peace plan by international envoy Kofi Annan to end the crisis in Syria and vowed to make every effort to make it succeed, the state agency SANA said Thursday.
Assad, however, said the UN-Arab League envoy's plan would succeed only if "terrorist acts" backed by foreign powers stopped across the country.
"President Assad... has informed Annan that Syria approves the plan [the envoy] submitted but had made remarks about it," SANA said.
The agency added Assad had underlined that he would "spare no effort" to make the six-point plan work.
It said Assad's remarks were made in a message to the world's emerging powers meeting Thursday in New Delhi.
Assad in his message expressed hope that Annan's plan would "contribute to re-establishing security and stability in the country".
But he said that the former UN secretary general's efforts to end one year of bloodshed in Syria would only succeed if support for "terrorism" ends.
"It is necessary to get a commitment from other parties for armed groups to stop their terrorist acts, to withdraw the weapons of these groups... and for them to stop... kidnapping innocent civilians, massacres and the destruction of private and public infrastructure," according to Assad's message.
Annan's plan includes a commitment to stop all violence, daily two-hour humanitarian ceasefires and media access to all areas affected by the fighting.
It also calls for an inclusive Syrian-led political process, the right to demonstrate, and the release of people detained arbitrarily.
-AFP/NOW Lebanon