Annan Heads for China in Syria Peace Push

After meeting Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in Moscow, international peace envoy Kofi Annan is expected to go to China in his bid to end the bloodshed in Syria, Reuters reports. Russia and China are the two countries that have shielded Syria at the UN.

Russia reportedly assured Annan of its full support and said that his mission could be the last chance to avoid a protracted and bloody civil war but would need more time.

According to Reuters, it was not clear whether Moscow would increase pressure on Assad to comply with Annan's peace plan, which includes demands for a ceasefire, the immediate withdrawal of heavy armour from residential areas and access for humanitarian aid.

Annan has been pressing hard on the six-point plan approved by the UN and the Friends of Syria coalition. It urges Syria's President Bashar al-Assad to take concrete steps to end the crisis and put forward proposals to stop the violence and the killing, give access to humanitarian agencies, release detainees, and start an inclusive political dialogue to address the legitimate aspirations and concerns of the people.

Medvedev will come face to face with US President Barack Obama for a nuclear security summit in South Korea on Monday. The escalating situation in Syria is likely to figure in their talks.

Obama, is believed to have discussed how to get non-lethal aid to the Syrian opposition with Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan. Erdogan said: "It is not possible to remain a spectator, to wait and not to intervene."

Turkey has in the past allowed defence defectors from the Syrian forces, unwilling to fight against their own people, entry into Turkey.

Amid all the diplomatic activity, the Syrian army has kept up its ante against rebel forces with latest attack in the north west of the country entering Saraqeb amid heavy shelling. The rebel base of Homs has been under continuous siege with heavily armed tankers fighting against sparsely equipped rebel groups.