Kofi Annan: Syria OKs Peace Deal

Syria has agreed to a six-point peace deal that will implement a cease-fire in the bloody conflict that has claimed an estimated 8,000 lives in the past year, UN envoy Kofi Annan said today. In Beijing today, Annan told reporters that "I had received a response from the Syrian government, which is positive," reports Reuters. He also secured China's full support for the deal. Annan added that while details of how to implement the plan remained to be worked out, the deal covered "political discussions, withdrawal of heavy weapons and troops from population centers, humanitarian assistance, release of prisoners, freedom of movement, and access to journalists to go in and out."

There was no sign of peace on the ground in Syria, however, as the AP reports that heavy gunfire continued unabated today and clashes between government loyalists and rebels crossed over the border with Lebanon. State-run media reported that embattled President Bashar al-Assad today visited the former rebel haven of Baba Amr, where loyalists killed hundreds in a bloody monthlong siege. (More Kofi Annan stories.)