Syria accepts UN peace plan but raids continue

Syria has accepted a UN-sponsored peace plan, international envoy Kofi Annan said, even as troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad raided rebel forces who have taken refuge in Lebanon.

Assad made a rare foray into the heartland of Syria’s year-old uprising, visiting a rebel stronghold in the city of Homs that his forces had overrun after weeks of shelling and gunfire, apparently to make the point that he can now tour the streets of the once bitterly contested district.

Syrian state television showed 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 and troops in combat gear.